There is a remote courtyard in the southeast corner of Yingwangfu, facing south three main houses, there are two partial houses in the east, there are two locust flowers in the courtyard, it is winter, the leaves on the locust tree have been exhausted, only the bare tendons are left, this small courtyard is the residence of Wang Chun, the chief eunuch of Yingwangfu, as the head of the palace, there is a small courtyard of his own and it is not unusual, the strange thing is that this small courtyard has two doors, one is in the palace, and one can go straight to the outside of the Yingwang Mansion,

There is a door that can go directly to the outside, which means that this is an independent mansion, as a eunuch can have an independent mansion, this is a blessing that can be cultivated in several lifetimes,

Zhang Yingying was sweeping the snow on the ground, and when she saw Wang Chun struggling to retrieve a rosewood box, she lost her broom and was about to go up to help, Wang Chun, who had already smiled like a flower on her face, suddenly threw a look at her: "Close the door quickly." ”

There are three main houses and two side rooms with piles of sundries in the small courtyard, Wang Chun lives in the main landlord's compartment, Zhang Yingying lives in the west chamber, the charcoal fire in the hearth is flourishing, and the main house is warm, but the air is filled with an unpleasant smell of smoke.

Wang Chun frowned: "Silly girl, why don't you burn white charcoal, white charcoal doesn't smoke." ”

Zhang Yingying said: "White charcoal is not good for fire, and my daughter is troublesome, so I use black charcoal......

Wang Chun laughed, he put the rosewood box on the table, went to the side room to get half a dustpan of white charcoal, opened the charcoal ash that sealed the charcoal fire and put the charcoal on the shelf piece by piece, Wang Chun teased with the charcoal fire while joking with Zhang Yingying: "You, you really can't even tell a lie, well, you think this charcoal is expensive, you can't bear it." ”

Zhang Yingying pursed her lips and smiled, she acquiesced, this kind of white charcoal is a tribute from Hedong, resistant to burning and boiling, smokeless, no peculiar smell, Li Ang often rewards this charcoal to the princes and nobles, in order to show favor, Yingwang Li Yan and Anwang Li Rong can get 3,000 catties a year, and other princes and ministers can only get 1,000 catties,

Yingwangfu has a large population, if everyone uses it, three thousand catties of charcoal is definitely not enough, if it is only for Princess Li Yan, there must be a surplus, as the chief manager, Wang Chun naturally has the right to decide who uses the surplus charcoal and who does not let it use, so he is quite dismissive of Zhang Yingying's approach.

"Whether it's white charcoal or black charcoal, it's all used to burn, there is so much charcoal in the palace, Your Highness can't use it up no matter how you use it, we don't use it for others, why bother to cheapen others and lose ourselves."

Zhang Yingying bit her lip and said seriously: "Godfather is the head of the palace, and he keeps some charcoal for his own use, so it is naturally useful, but there are always some people in the palace who chew the root of their tongues, and what they say will reach the ears of His Royal Highness and the princess sooner or later. ”

"Don't worry about them, no one can be a saint or a sage, Your Highness and the princess will not blame your godfather for this."

Wang Chun pretended to be relaxed and said, in fact, he also knew in his heart that since he was transferred to the head of Yingwangfu, there has always been a force below that is competing with him openly and secretly, Li Yan almost never asks about the internal affairs of the palace, the princess is weak and sick, and she is powerless to ask, and the stewards below are unrestrained, stealing and cheating, embezzling public funds, and making the Yingwangfu a miasma.

Zhang Yingying bit her lip and said: "Although it is all rumors and lies, but if you say too much and listen to more, it will inevitably become the truth, the princess is a bodhisattva, and it is inevitable that bad people can take advantage of it, so why bother to teach people in these small things." ”

Wang Chun was quite emotional when he heard this, he didn't expect a ten-year-old child to have such insight, and he could speak so gently, Princess Ying's ears are surprisingly soft, she always believes good words and bad words as soon as she hears them, Zhang Yingying said well, why bother to teach people a handle in such a trivial matter,

So he put away the rest of the white charcoal, and brought it back to the side room for a dustpan of black charcoal, Zhang Yingying saw that his opinion was adopted, his heart was quite excited, and when he saw the rosewood box on the table, he asked: "What kind of treasure is in this." ”

Wang Chun said with great interest: "Guess what, if you guess right, your godfather will be rewarded." ”

Zhang Yingying twisted her eyebrows and thought for a while, and replied: "Most of them are gold, silver and jewelry. ”

Wang Chun shook his head quietly and said, "Guess again." ”

Zhang Yingying thought about it again and said: "If it's not gold and silver jewelry, it's also something valuable, no, it's still gold and silver jewelry, it must be yes, godfather, do you say it's not." ”

Wang Chun gave a thumbs up: "Good knowledge, how do you know that the box contains gold and silver jewelry." ”

Zhang Yingying grinned and said: "As soon as the godfather entered the door, he asked his daughter to close the courtyard door, which shows that you don't want outsiders to see the rosewood box, you used two hands to put the wooden box on the table, which shows that the box is very heavy, what will be in such a small box except for gold beads." ”

Wang Chun moved the rosewood box to the hearth, opened the lid in front of Zhang Yingying, the box was stacked neatly with gold bars and eight chicken-sized pearls, Zhang Yingying had never seen so much gold, and was stunned for a while, Wang Chun picked up a pearl and said to Zhang Yingying: "This pearl is worth a thousand taels of silver, eight is eight thousand taels, you know how many people in this world can't earn this pearl in their lifetime." ”

Wang Chun put the pearl back into the rosewood box, locked it, and then pushed the wooden box in front of Zhang Yingying: "You keep it for your godfather." ”

Zhang Yingying exclaimed: "It's not that he gave you a bribe." ”

Wang Chun smiled: "It was a bribe before, but now His Highness already knows, so it doesn't count." He sighed slightly, and said, "Actually, this is a gift from him, you should keep it well, and you will have it when you will have it in the future." ”

Zhang Yingying was a little puzzled by the second half of Wang Chun's sentence, this was obviously something that Yang Hao bribed him, how could it become a gift from him to herself, but she didn't ask the reason, just like she couldn't understand why Wang Chun wanted to tell Li Yan what others bribed him, some people and things are always so elusive,

……

Suizhou Assassin Mansion Prison, late at night,

Wen Lan's hands were tied in the air, Wu Cao brandished a leather whip and whipped it fiercely, in order to prevent Wen Lan's terrible screams from disturbing the neighbors, Wu Cao stuffed a pair of obscene pants used by Thirteen Niang into his mouth,

This is undoubtedly a great insult to Wen Lan, as a prisoner, Wen Lan can only resign himself to fate, but what makes him indignant is Bo Zhongyan, who has the ability to save himself, is also indifferent and gloating at this moment,

Wu Cao had already promised to release Wen Lan back to Chang'an, but the bad was in Wen Lan's stinky mouth, and at the pressure banquet that Wu Cao put on him, the drunk Wen Lan put his arms around Wu Cao's neck and spewed wine and said: "Thirteen Niang will be yours in the future, brother, I am blessed." Wu Cao turned his face at that time, lifted the table and scolded,

Then Wen Lan was brought here in a daze, if it wasn't for Bo Zhongyan arriving in time, what he received today would not be as simple as this forty leather whips, according to the jailers, on the night he said the wrong thing, a woman's mournful cry came from the backyard of the Assassin's Mansion, some people said that it was the sound of Wu Cao whipping Thirteen Niang, and some people said that Wu Cao hung Thirteen Niang up and pricked her skin with a needle, a total of more than 780 times,

No matter which statement is true, Wen Lan is already afraid of Wu Cao to the bone now, and this young man with a gloomy face will tremble even if he looks at it now,

Wu Cao hit forty whips, his forehead was sweaty, his arms were a little sore, and his panting was a little uneven, he dropped the whip and went away with hatred, Bo Zhongyan was by his side, he could ignore him when he was angry, but he still had to take care of his face when he was angry, Bo Zhongyan motioned to the soldier to pull out the stuff stuffed in Wen Lan's mouth,

Wen Lan actually cried "wow", he was bruised all over his body by forty whips, and it looked ugly, but it didn't hurt his muscles and bones, Bo Zhongyan looked at him with disdain, his face was full of disdain, Wen Lan scowled for a while, and asked Bo Zhongyan with bared teeth: "You can obviously save me, why do you stand by and watch,

Bo Zhongyan sneered: "This is his territory, the guest is as he pleases, what can I say, he can let you go, you can be content." ”

Wen Lan trembled angrily, and said fiercely: "If you don't avenge this revenge, I will cut off his head sooner or later." ”

Bo Zhongyan snorted coldly, Wu Cao dared to deal with Wen Lan like this, in addition to the ruthlessness and cruelty in his character, the main thing was that he saw that he would not have any unhappiness with him because of Wen Lan, Bo Zhongyan had just helped Wu Cao incorporate Wen Lan's old department, that is, the three thousand Shence army stationed in Suizhou, Qiu Shiliang's instruction to him was to support Wu Cao to become a family of his own, so that Suizhou would become a buffer zone between Guanzhong, Fengzhou and Xiazhou, Qiu Shiliang was willing to make such a concession, naturally there were his considerations,

Half a month ago, the hungry people rioted in Lishu County, Lizhou, Jiannan, and the government was unable to suppress it, so it asked the local garrison to assist in suppressing it, and the garrison sent three brigades into Lishu County to suppress the mob, and did not want three hundred sergeants to defect, and the hungry people stood together, the angry hungry people captured the county government and seized an armory, and then a thousand Turkish troops composed of hungry people took the opportunity to capture Lizhou City, they seized the granary, opened the warehouse to release grain, they smashed the public office, arrested the officials, Lizhou officials, soldiers, landlords, and rich businessmen rushed for their lives,

After the riots in Lizhou, the neighboring Meizhou, Yazhou, Jiazhou and other places also broke out one after another, and the hungry people formed an armed fire to the official office, seized the warehouse grain, expelled the officials, and the southern area of Jiannan fell into the hands of the mob.

The hungry people of the four states grabbed the armory, organized the army, known as the "Dangkou Army", they formed an alliance with the local barbarians, and agreed to resist the official army, Jiannan Tun 100,000 soldiers, Chengdu Mansion alone garrisoned 10,000, the "Dangkou Army" strength is only three or five thousand, and they are all untrained rabble, at this time if the official army enters the army to exterminate, the odds of victory are very great, what is puzzling is that after all the four states have fallen, the garrison is as if there is no pause, let it go,

Most of these 100,000 soldiers are local natives of Jiannan, and they are inextricably linked with the Dangkou army, so the timetable for attacking and suppressing has been pushed back and forth, and finally it will not fall.

Jiannan was originally the territory of the Thorn Horse Battalion, after the change of Daming Palace, Qiu Shiliang's forces began to infiltrate, and once had the upper hand, but in the past two years, the power of the Thorn Horse Camp has risen rapidly, and the situation in Jiannan has been in a state of mutual attack and defense, this hunger riot, the mastermind behind the scenes is the Thorn Horse Battalion, their purpose is to completely regain control of Jiannan, Qiu Shiliang naturally refuses to let go easily, he wants to concentrate on competing with the Thorn Horse Camp for Jiannan, he can only temporarily take a defensive position in the north, Suizhou he can lose, but not in the hands of Yang Hao, Otherwise, at least on the surface, he would have been crushed by the Thorn Horse Battalion,