Listening to Liu Cheng's confession, Hong Chengchou's gaze changed subtly, gradually changing from cold to gentle, and from mildness to showing a little appreciation, and suddenly he laughed: "The resurgence of the people in Shaanxi is the opportunity for heroes and heroes to make contributions, Liu Cheng, it is not impossible for someone like you to be a marquis, not to mention self-preservation?" ”

"Thank you for the compliment, Liu Cheng is ashamed!" Liu Cheng bowed down and asked, "What about the matter of Chile Mountain?" ”

"Such an inferior gentleman, falsely accusing the court officials, the crime is added to the first degree!" Hong Chengchou showed a look of disdain on his face: "Such a villain even dares to make false accusations against the officials of the imperial court, it can be seen how domineering he is on weekdays, he must be dealt with strictly, otherwise how can the people be embarrassed!" ”

"What your lord says is very true!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "Now that the situation in the northwest is as dangerous as an accumulation, a figure like Lord Hong is needed to preside over the overall situation!" “

"Oh?" Hong Chengchou laughed: "As far as this official knows, Yang He treats you well." “

"Lord Hong, Yang Zhijun does treat me well, but frankly speaking, even if there is no such thing as He Renlong killing God Yikui and not getting mud, his strategy of appeasement cannot calm the chaos in the northwest, one more Liu Cheng, one less Liu Cheng has nothing to do with the overall situation."

"I can't imagine that Liu Guerrilla also has insight into the chaos in the northwest, so why not talk about it and let the official take a closer look." A mocking smile appeared on Hong Chengchou's face, obviously in his eyes, a mere guerrilla like Liu Cheng was not qualified to discuss such a high-level issue.

"The chaos in the northwest, simply put, is a natural disaster for many years, coupled with the matter of Liao, the people do not investigate their lives, the old and weak fill in the ravines, and the strong beams gather in the mountains and forests. The border army had been without pay for many years, and they could not bear to use their lives, but fled into the chaos of the people. Teach them how to march and set up their formations. It is not impossible for Yang Zhijun to use the method of appeasement, but it is necessary to cultivate cattle seeds and divide the land to establish the foundation for his life. But now the power of the imperial court, seven or eight times out of ten, lies in the affairs of the eastern captives, there is no money and grain subsidies, and most of the land is annexed by the gentry and large households. The method of appeasement has become the moon in the well, filling the hunger and painting cakes, how can it be achieved? ”

"Well, I heard that Guerrilla Liu attacked you in Dunzhou to clean up the military camp, build Pitang, train the troops and raise salaries, and place more than 3,000 soldiers very well, why do you say that this strategy is a mirror flower?"

"My lord, the land in the northwest is barren, and there are not many places where rivers like Yanzhou are crisscrossed. If it's a place like Yulin, no matter how good I have, I can't figure it out. And the last general also didn't know how many people's heads were cut off before he broke out a way, and there were many coincidences among them, which could not be generalized. ”

"To be able to promote people like you who are brave enough to do things in the ranks, Yang He can also be regarded as a discerning person." At this time, Hong Chengchou's words no longer had the previous mocking taste, and he began to look at this young military attache with a new eye, it is not uncommon for a military general to lead troops to fight. can squeeze out the silver from the pockets of the gentry to raise soldiers, and it is not a barrage. This was difficult to reach the sky at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and Hong Chengchou himself deeply experienced it.

"You took that Chi family brother for the knife, just for this?"

"Yes, after Yang Zhijun ordered me to kill He Renlong, he asked me to control his subordinates. However, He was in arrears and the morale of the army was unstable. I promised to make up for the arrears of military salaries......" Liu Cheng recounted in detail what he did in Yichuan, and in the end, Hong Chengchou bowed his head slightly and said: "In this way, the brothers of the Chi family are not unjustly dead, if you don't kill them, what will you do?" If you don't have authority, you won't have money to pay. The soldiers will be scattered. Well, it's good to kill, it's right! Speaking of this, Hong Chengchou said with a smile: "Liu Cheng, you are a talented and courageous person, but now these are not enough, Li Guangcai is very angry, but he can also fly a few strange, it is rare to be a marquis?" ”

When Liu Cheng heard this, he couldn't hear Hong Chengchou's solicitation, so he hurriedly bowed down and said, "If Lord Hong is willing to take him in, he will serve his own life." “

"Well, good, good!" Hong Chengchou laughed, in his opinion, there is no difference between Liu Cheng and He Renlong in front of him, they are just one of his lackeys, he was well-read when he was young, and the most admired is Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, who believes that people who do great things must be humble and good at employing people in order to achieve great things. Ji Bu once defeated Liu Bang and forced Gaozu to be in an embarrassment many times, but when Liu Bang became emperor, he accepted Xiahou Ying's advice and pardoned him; Yongya betrayed Liu Bang when he was in the most difficult time, but later after surrendering to Liu Bang, Liu Bang made him the Marquis of Shifang in order to calm the hearts of his ministers. Although Liu Cheng had fought against him, he was under Yang He at that time, so he naturally obeyed Yang He's orders. If he becomes the governor of the three sides, he will have to face the problems that Yang He has not been able to solve, and the talents will only be too few and not too much, so it is better to recruit them into his command and think that he will use them for his own use, and the old things in the past will not have to be remembered too clearly.

Outside the pavilion, Qu Duan and Chi Leshan did not dare to stand too close, twenty or thirty steps away from the pavilion, and could only faintly hear the words coming from the pavilion, which not only could not relieve their doubts, but made the two of them add more worries to their hearts, and they both waited for the outcome of the matter with the same anxiety. It wasn't until Hong and Liu walked out of the pavilion that the stone in Qu Duan's heart fell to the ground - Hong Chengchou stood in front, Liu Cheng followed closely behind, both of them had smiles on their faces, and they looked like they were talking happily.

"Since there are good talents such as Liu Guerrilla and Qu Xianzun, I am relieved about the affairs of Yichuan!" Hong Chengchou said to Qu Duan and Liu Cheng with a smile.

"The lord praised it falsely, and the lower official (the last general) is ashamed!" Qu and Liu hurriedly bowed down to thank them, and Hong Chengchou exchanged two more words with the two before saying goodbye with a smile.

"Lord Hong, Lord Hong-" Chi Leshan rushed forward to say something, but was immediately pushed away by the two pro-soldiers, he didn't know what happened in the pavilion, but one thing was certain, he was finished. He looked at Hong Chengchou's back blankly, and his heart was already cold, but the strange thing was that Chi Leshan at this time did not have the slightest intention of escaping.

After a while, Liu Cheng, who had bid farewell to Hong Chengchou, walked in front of Chi Leshan, looked the other party up and down with a smile and suddenly smiled: "I'm sorry!" ”

Chi Leshan only felt a pain in his heart, and when his eyes were dark, he didn't know anything.

Kyoshi, Xingryuji Temple.

With the sound of wooden fish, more than a dozen monks chanted the Diamond Sutra on the futons on both sides, and pale cyan smoke wafted from the incense burner in front of the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva. There is a quiet and peaceful atmosphere in the lobby.

Wang Chengen respectfully inserted three pillars of incense on the incense burner, kowtowed three more times, and prayed with his hands together. At this time, he was only wearing a green coat, except for the beard under his chin, he looked like an ordinary scholar with a solid family. After burning the incense, he walked to the merit box next to the door. He took out ten taels of silver from his bosom and put it in front of a monk next to the merit box: "This senior brother, Cheng'en was a little inconvenient a few days ago, and he couldn't come out of the palace. “

The monk seemed to be very familiar with Wang Chengen, took the silver two with a smile, and said with a smile while recording it on the register next to him: "Why is Chief Wang so polite, what kind of identity are you." It's a trivial matter of a few taels of silver to send a little eunuch to run an errand, so why bother to invite yourself. “

"Senior brother, this is a bad thing, how can there be any manager in this Xinglong Temple, father-in-law? It's just some freaks who live here. Wang Chengen said this, and sighed: "No matter how glamorous we people are on the outside, we are just a cripple on the inside, and we will come here sooner or later, if we forget this." That's a bit stupid. “

It turns out that in ancient times, eunuchs were often born poor and entered the palace since childhood. He has no long-term plan, no offspring, and once he is old and infirm and unable to do things, he will be expelled from the palace, and there will be only one way to die, and there will not even be a place to bury. Therefore, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, a kind of public welfare organization appeared in the palace, and the eunuchs gave part of the money to this organization when they were young, and this organization was responsible for their funeral and pension affairs. For example, Zhongguancun, a famous electronics industry gathering area in Beijing today, was the eunuch cemetery (Zhongguan Village) in the last years of the Qing Dynasty. When he was on an errand in the palace, there was a strict hierarchy within the eunuchs, but in this mutual aid organization, they were equal. Since eunuchs were looked down upon in ancient times, even if they were rich, no one would necessarily approach them. Therefore, when they were young, they often used part of the money they had saved to buy land and donate it to the monastery, worship the elders of the monastery as teachers, and then live in the monastery when they left the palace in old age. Because the monks of the ancient monasteries did not have wives and children, they were similar to eunuchs in this regard, so they did not have to worry about looking down on them. One of these temples was Xinglong Temple, which was called "Brother Temple" by the common people at the time because the eunuchs had no heirs, so as to distinguish it from ordinary temples that were usually associated with one or several families for a long time.

"What Brother Wang said is that our identity in the palace has been forgotten when we come here."

At this time, a sharp voice came from behind him, Wang Chengen turned around, but the one who spoke was Gao Qiqian, only to see that he was only wearing a plain robe, but the texture and workmanship were excellent, he was followed by two handsome little eunuchs, and there were still seven or eight steps away from Wang Chengen before he bowed: "Brother Wang, you have been suffering in Qianxi (the west of the palace city, usually detains the palace maids and eunuchs and concubines who have made mistakes) these days, we haven't been close for a few days, if you have time to drink two cups together?" Also warm and warm? ”

Wang Chengen didn't speak, his gaze stayed on Gao Qiqian's well-maintained Guozi face, and only replied after a while: "Wang is still guilty, forget about this wine." ”

"Brother Wang!" Gao Qi stepped forward and grabbed Wang Chengen's arm, pulled him aside and said in a low voice: "Your sin was suffered for the queen's mother's family, this lady knows, and the emperor also knows, this is not a crime, it is love!" I'll get to the bottom of it with you, and in half a month at most, you will be able to return to the emperor. “

"Oh, I see!" Wang Chengen's eyes flickered, and he asked, "That Gao Gonggong, you have something important to come to me today, right?" “

"What's the matter, it's important for our brothers to drink happily today!" Gao Qiqian laughed, but Wang Chengen's face seemed to be coated with a layer of wax, there was no smile, a pair of eyes didn't blink, just stared at himself, Gao Qiqian felt that the muscles on his face gradually stiffened, and he couldn't even maintain a smile. In the end, he sighed and said, "Brother Wang, your guess is right, I do have something important to look for you, let's go to the backyard and talk about it." “

Wang Chengen nodded, he followed Gao Qi and sneaked to the backyard, the two little eunuchs who accompanied him blocked the door, and only Gao and Wang were left in the courtyard and a big locust tree, the leaves of the locust tree also fell off, and only a few dry branches remained, only pointing to the sky, which made people feel chills on their bodies when they saw it.

He walked two laps under the locust tree, and suddenly stopped and said, "Princess, I'm about to leave the palace." “

"Out of the palace?"

"Yes, Shandong Kong Youde mutinied, the situation is critical, the emperor asked me to be a supervisor of the army, supervise the generals to quell the chaos, and I don't know if I can come back." Speaking of this, Gao Qiqian sighed, he took out a piece of paper from his arms and handed it to Wang Chengen: "This is a voucher, you can use this to go to the temple to withdraw 50,000 taels of silver, I already have it in the temple." “

Wang Chengen looked at the slip, but did not stretch out his hand: "What kind of money is this?" ”

"It's the hearts of those adults!" Gao Qiqian smiled: "I went out of Beijing this time, and I don't know when I will be able to come back, they can't have no one by the emperor's side." ”

"Fifty thousand taels, so generous!" Wang Chengen smiled: "Why don't you look for someone else?" Looking for me? ”

"Emperor Tian personally named you." Gao Qiqian gave a thumbs up: "Brother Wang, there is no one else in your heart, only the emperor and the queen, no one else can take this money except you." ”

"Really?" Wang Chengen snorted coldly: "Father-in-law Gao, you also think too highly of me!" ”

"I can't trust anyone else!" A wry smile appeared on Gao Qiqian's face: "To be honest, this piece of meat is too fat, if someone bites it in their mouth, they will definitely swallow it in one bite, and I can't even eat some slag." Brother Wang, you are a rule-talker, and you won't bully me. ”

"What am I going to do with the money?"

"This is a year's price, in fact, it's nothing, you are by the emperor's side, just pay attention to your ears on weekdays, if you want to speak for them, you have to add money!" Gao Qiqian's face regained his usual smile: "Brother Wang, don't spoil the market, the brothers in the back are still eating with this!" ”

"Humph!" Wang Chengen sneered: "Being next to the master, if you go to the ear and slander, the little good reputation of our lieutenant will be ruined for you." ”

"Brother Wang, what you said is bad, if we don't take this money, others will take it, and if we don't do it, someone else will do it. Let's talk about the Northwest Yang Crane, it's not us who started it. (To be continued.) )