Chapter 3 Prelude to the Storm

Sitting leisurely in the elegant wing room of the two-story building, looking at the bamboo forest outside through the window, as if returning to Nanchu, now, I am already the Sima of my Yongwang Mansion, and my status is very important, but I still like to travel with Xiaoshunzi micro-clothes, although Yongwang has repeatedly advised me to be careful of my own safety. I am now lacking a very important candidate, to be able to go undercover beside the prince, but unfortunately I am not very satisfied with the candidates provided by King Yong, this person must be debauched, in order to conform to the prince's surname, this person must be good at greeting, in order to get the prince's favor, this person must be talented, in order to be able to get the prince's appreciation, such a person is really difficult to find, although the person provided to me by King Yongwang is reluctant, but I still hope to find a more suitable candidate.

I sat for not long, the door opened quietly, Chen Zhi and Han Wuji walked in, this is the place I have arranged a long time ago, the owner of this very famous restaurant in Dayong Jing Shunjing is my cousin, two years ago, I was recuperating in Nanchu, Tianji Pavilion has begun to emerge when Jing Shunqing came to seek refuge in me. The reason was because he had an argument with his uncle.

Speaking of my mother from a famous family, Jing is the leading scholarly family in Jiaxing, but after the death of my mother, my father and them had a great conflict, because the house we live in, all the land is given to my father by my grandfather, after the death of my mother, my uncle, who has always been at odds with my father, threatened to take back everything, it stands to reason that these properties are in my father's name, and they have no right to take it back, but my father is arrogant, and he angrily abandoned everything under the insult and bullying of his uncle, and took me away from Jiaxing. also made it clear that he broke off with the Jing family, so after I won the top prize, the Jing family did not have the face to reconcile with me.

My cousin has blunt qualifications and doesn't like to read, so he can't be favored by his uncle, and he is in love with a maid in the family, so that the maid is pregnant, and after my uncle learns about it, he wants to kill the child, the maid resells, and the cousin wants to marry his fiancΓ©e immediately, in fact, for the cousin, if the maid can be accepted as a concubine, the two of them are already satisfied, but the uncle resolutely refuses to let the cousin offend the Yue family, and as a result, my cousin fled to Jianye with the maid in anger to join me.

I have a good impression of this cousin, although he is not good at reading, but he is shrewd, I heard that he has long been taking care of the family's land and affairs, his fiancΓ©e is the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Southern Chu, because his father-in-law values his ability, so he decided to marry, and my uncle saw that his cousin could not achieve fame, so he asked him to climb the high branches. Who knew that his cousin had an affair with his maid and offended the Yue family, so his uncle was furious.

I am not only sympathetic to my cousin, but also still have a grudge against my uncle, so I arranged for my cousin to ask to see the master of Tianji Pavilion, of course, the 'Lord of Tianji Pavilion' Han Wuji appreciated his cousin very much, and funded him to do business, in order to avoid the suppression of the Yue family, my cousin crossed the river to Dayong, at that time Nanchu and Dayong still maintained a superficial harmony, so my cousin did not encounter any obstacles, and stood on the foothold in Dayong, my cousin is indeed a business wizard, but in two years, the 100,000 taels of silver I invested at the beginning have increased countless times, My cousin became a huge rich man by trading goods between Dayong and Nanchu, and he invested his money in other industries in a timely manner, and became one of the giants of the silk industry, this is because I improved the loom for him and he is smart and capable, and a year ago, his father-in-law came to the door, not only reconciled with him, but also sent his fiancΓ©e over, in fact, although the cousin's fiancΓ©e is stubborn, she is not an unreasonable person, the cooperation between my cousin and my father-in-law has also made his business develop rapidly, and businessmen are interested in interests, They saw the crisis in Nanchu, so the two were ready to transfer part of their business and funds to Dayong, and their cousin was the pioneer who opened the way.

I didn't think that my cousin would be so good, when I first invested, I said that Tianji Pavilion accounted for fifty percent of the shares, and then my cousin had a grand plan and proposed to buy back the shares at a price of 500,000 taels, of course, my cousin was ready for our sky-high asking price, but of course I wouldn't go too far, and Tianji Pavilion never did anything that made the collaborators too heartbroken, so I sold the shares at a reasonable price, but according to the usual practice, I kept one percent of the shares, and my cousin also knew the power of the Tianji Guild, so the two sides happily reached an agreement. My cousin is a person who values love and righteousness, and although he doesn't know the relationship between me and Tianji Pavilion, he still sends me heavy gifts several times to thank me for my guidance at the beginning.

This time I was captured by King Yong, came to Dayong, and sent Chen Zhi to Dayong to wait for me in advance, there are many people in my cousin's industry, although they have no memory of the things in the secret camp, but they still remember the kindness of the secret camp to place them, and their qualifications are relatively good after all, so many of them have become important stewards, plus the identity of Tianji Pavilion, so the secret camp can come and go freely in the cousin's industry. And this restaurant is one of my cousin's industries in Dayong, named Jiang Nanchun, which sells all Nanchu-style wine and dishes, which is very popular with Dayong's magnates. My cousin is still very good, knowing that after I was captured, I came to Chang'an in person, hoping to do my best for me, several times through the relationship to ask King Yong's noble hand', but the way is not clear, until I became the Sima of King Yong's mansion, King Yong only knew that his cousin wanted to save me by going to the door, but he appreciated my cousin very much, so I could easily go out of the house to Jiangnan Chun to drink this time, after all, no one here will be able to unite with the boss to plot against me, King Yong sent a few strong guards to protect me, Otherwise, King Yong wouldn't be worried about my safety.

Looking at Chen Zhi and Han Wuji, I smiled and said, "How are the two of you lately, Jiang Mou's surname makes the two of you worried." β€˜

After the two of them saw each other, Han Wuji smiled and said: "My subordinates tried their best to arrange the death fraud plan explained by Gongzi, but unfortunately it fell short, Gongzi was still moved by King Yong, and Gongzi has to compensate for our hard work." β€˜

Chen Zhi glanced at him and said: "Don't talk nonsense, who keeps saying that in fact, Gongzi doesn't have to be so dangerous to cheat to death, I heard that Gongzi changed his mind and was ecstatic there." β€˜

Although Chen Zhi is a joke, my heart is moving, look at Han Wuji, secretly thinking in my heart, he is also a Shu person, how can he agree so much with me to join King Yong. My skeptical gaze was fixed on Han Wuji, if there was something wrong with this person, then my secret camp had leaked out, but there was no sign of this.

Han Wuji used to be called a hook and a fight, seeing my gaze, my heart was cold, and I quickly knelt on the ground and said: "Childe, my subordinates are indeed inclined to Dayong, a few days ago we were waiting for Gongzi in Chang'an, and my subordinates met a former colleague, and he saw that I was in a good situation, so he said to me that he wanted me to support the prince of Shu with them and re-establish Shu. I politely refused at the time, but the man said that now someone is organizing a resistance force, if I don't agree, when those people find me, they will definitely not let go of my rebellion of forgetting my ancestors, and my subordinates know that these people are bullying the weak and afraid of the hard, if the prince submits to King Yong, with the help of King Yong's power, then these people dare not blatantly come to his subordinates. β€˜

I sighed slightly, I am not surprised by the existence of the resistance forces of Shu, but it is so stupid to use this way, Han Wuji used to be more opposed to Dayong, when I wanted to cheat to death, although he did not say, but he was very positive, but now he is overjoyed for me to return to King Yong, such a change is caused by those resistance forces, a person who has given up the past and has his own life, who wants to invest in the resistance forces with no future? After making sure that those forces couldn't make any big waves, I still told Han Wuji and others to pay attention to their own safety, although assassination can't change the general trend of the country, but personal fate can be changed, after thinking about it, I said to Han Wuji: 'Next time they come to force you, you say that you are doing business and are willing to fund them, but you don't want to participate. β€˜

Han Wuji said in surprise: "Why did Childe do this? β€˜

I smiled faintly and said, 'I want you to control their movements, so that it will help me a little, and it will be easier to get rid of them in the future.' β€˜

Han Wuji was silent, I was a little puzzled, and was about to ask him what was wrong, when Xiao Shunzi's voice sounded in his ears: "Childe, he is from Shu." β€˜

Only then did I remember that although he just said that he was relieved that I had defected to Dayong, it did not mean that he was willing to see the resistance of Shu fail.

Shaking my head slightly, I said: "No plan, I understand your thoughts, but you have to know that most of these people are not loyal to Shu, but just to regain the lost power, they use this way to rebel, not only has no possibility of success, but will also affect more people, and even they will hurt more people, for example, if you don't have the ability to protect yourself, how will they deal with you, you think about it, I don't force you, I will explain these things to others to do." β€˜

Han Wuji knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "Subordinate Gongzi Xie is magnanimous. β€˜

I looked at Chen Zhen, he nodded slightly, I knew that he would take over this matter, and he would monitor Han Wuji and not let him endanger my great cause.

Chen Zhi saw that Han Wuji had calmed down, and said, "I don't know if Gongzi is ready to tell His Royal Highness King Yong about the existence of the secret camp. β€˜

I smiled faintly and asked, 'What do you think?' β€˜

Chen Zhi said: "The subordinates think that if they tell King Yong, then the prince will have less power to protect himself in the future, but if he does not tell King Yong, I am afraid that King Yong will doubt the loyalty of the prince in the future." β€˜

I looked at Xiao Shunzi, Xiao Shunzi said coldly: "You are right, but you must not expose the secret camp to the sun, the reason why Gongzi can advance and retreat freely is all because of the existence of the secret camp, and King Yong is doubting Gongzi's loyalty, we can't leave Dayong." β€˜

I thought for a while and said: "Xiao Shunzi is too extreme, in this way, we are equal to being hostile to King Yong, this is not good, the secret camp can not show up, so let's do it, I will try not to meet with Chen Zhi in the future, Chen Zhi is responsible for the presiding over the secret camp, Xiao Shunzi is responsible for conveying my instructions, in the future, the task of the secret camp is to integrate himself into the lower class of Chang'an, remember my words, you can't get involved in the power of the upper magnates, in this way, even if His Royal Highness King Yongwang finds out about the existence of the secret camp, he will not be too jealous of me, After all, His Royal Highness King Yongwang will not believe that I have no power to rely on at all, the big deal is that I said that the secret camp is Xiao Shunzi's subordinates, I want to be reasonable, for such a long time, they can at least see the depth of some Xiao Shunzi. β€˜

Xiao Shunzi nodded and said: "When King Yong was under house arrest, he always sent some masters to monitor us, although I can enter and exit, but if I bring my son, I am afraid that I will not be able to escape easily." Now the martial arts of the guards sent by King Yong to our side are also good, but it is only for protection, because there is no master among them who can entangle me, and the force is much weaker, and they are just ready to assist me in protecting my son. β€˜

I was about to tell them something, suddenly there was a noise and the sound of weapons intersecting outside, I frowned slightly, this Jiangnan Spring Restaurant is a high-end location, how can anyone do it here, glanced at Xiao Shunzi, he walked out willingly, and came back after a while to tell me that it turned out that there was a fight outside, Xiao Shunzi said that it seemed to be a vendetta in the rivers and lakes. I have seen bloody battles on the battlefield before, I have also seen literati tongue battles, and I have never seen vendettas in the rivers and lakes, so I couldn't help but be interested, greeted Xiao Shunzi, and I walked out of the door.

Although Jiangnan Spring is nominally a restaurant, in fact it is a small garden, the garden is full of Jiangnan landscapes, flowers, bamboo forests, small bridges, flowing water, rockeries will cleverly divide the space in the garden into hundreds of small spaces, each small space has different styles of buildings and pavilions, the most is to take the respect in the middle of the noisy, there are corridors between the pavilions everywhere, and there are luxuriant flowers and trees outside the corridors, so the pattern is very elegant and secretive, and it is most suitable for secret talks.

The small building I am in is very elegant, push open the door on the second floor, outside is the vermilion railing around the platform, next to the stairs leading to the lower floor, Yongwang's guards are waiting on the lower floor, I stand in front of the railing, look down, downstairs and another pavilion connected to the corridor stands an old man standing with his hands in his hands, behind him stood two middle-aged men with a mighty appearance and a beautiful and delicate girl, and on a rockery outside the corridor, stood a scholar in yellow, handsome, just with a little frivolity, Holding a jade flute in his hand, and opposite him, there stood a handsome young man, with a sword in his hand, the two were fighting, the young man's swordsmanship seemed to be good, and the scholar was forced to be very embarrassed in the flashing of the sword, but the scholar laughed and ridiculed from time to time, I saw that the young man was red-faced, and he was going crazy.

When I looked down, the scholar was shouting while fighting back: 'Oh, it's really terrible, Xiaosheng just laughed a few words, and he didn't rob you of beauty, don't worry, although your junior sister is beautiful, Xiaosheng is used to seeing the beauties in the world, and there are many more beautiful than her, but he just laughed a few words, and he didn't touch a single hair of her, why are you so desperate." β€˜

The young man shouted: 'Nonsense, nonsense, you came to take refuge, and we kindly accepted it, but you, you did such rude things, and offended my junior sister. As he spoke, his swordsmanship became even faster.

The yellow-clothed scholar swore while resisting: "My Fair Lady, the gentleman is good, Xiaosheng is just a beautiful woman, and he has pursued Miss Sha for a few days, but there is absolutely no indecent behavior, besides, Miss Sha is a disciple of Fengyimen, Xiaosheng is bold, and he doesn't dare to offend her, Jingjing, Jingjing, you plead for me, I didn't offend you." β€˜

The beautiful girl's jade face was slightly red, and she said fiercely: "What pursuit, pestering me every day, blowing xiao outside when you have nothing to do, also, and stealing my things, you obediently let my senior brother beat me, and then return the things, otherwise I will never let you go." β€˜

The yellow-clothed scholar sighed and said, "Alas, it seems that you won't let me go, hey, you've seen enough of watching the play, brother, if you don't save me, I'll die." Saying that the jade flute in the scholar's hand suddenly turned into thousands of phantoms, the young man seemed to be indistinguishable, and subconsciously took a step back, who knew that he forgot that he was on the rockery, a stumbling, he hurriedly stabilized the lower plate, at this moment, this scholar suddenly flew up in the air, rushed in the direction where I was, and shouted: 'Brother, help. β€˜

Just as his figure flickered, a middle-aged man behind the old man pounced from behind him like a goshawk, and the scholar's hand shook, only to hear a violent explosion, and the green smoke immediately billowed within a radius of several zhang, which was mixed with red light smoke, and the scholar shouted: 'Brother, don't be poisonous, I don't have a big enmity with them.' All the people immediately held their breath and froze, and when the green smoke cleared, several people looked intently, only to see that the scholar was gone, and on the platform in the direction of his escape, a scholar in Tsing Yi was smiling bitterly there, and a beautiful servant standing behind him turned his face sideways, as if snickering.

The young man pointed angrily at the tower and said, "What about that bastard, hand him over quickly, you must not be a good person even if you use poison in broad daylight." β€˜

I couldn't help but smile bitterly when I was pointed, I was actually framed, just now Xiao Shunzi secretly said to me, this scholar seems to want to break through, I just want to see how he breaks through with curiosity, when the green smoke appears, Xiao Shunzi immediately blocked in front of me, and then we heard his planting, I don't know what the red smoke is, but I know it's definitely not poison, but to those who are angry, how can I explain it?

At this time, several guards from the Yongwang Mansion had already rushed upstairs to see that I was safe and sound, and one of the guards came up to me and whispered, 'My lord, what happened. β€˜

I shook my head lightly and raised my voice: "Several, that person just now has nothing to do with Zaixia, please let a few people know." β€˜

The young man said in a loud voice: "Qubble, when we met that person, he was walking towards you, and just now he broke through from your direction, you are not the same party, tell me quickly, what does the prodigal son Xia Jinyi have to do with you?" β€˜

I smiled and said, "I really have nothing to do with that person, please be clear." β€˜

The old man suddenly said: "Your Excellency despises our intelligence so much, the surname Xia originally walked towards you, and after seeing you just now, he tried to break through in your direction several times, if it has nothing to do with you, why have you never refutated." β€˜

At this time, the guard whispered in my ear: "These people are the people of the Chang'an Guanzhonglian, and the old man is the joint leader Sha Qingyuan, the Guanzhonglian gathers the Chang'an warriors, which is actually where the imperial court controls the rivers and lakes, Sha Qingyuan is now neutral, but he is more biased towards the King of Qi, because many of his disciples are serving in the army of the King of Qi." β€˜

I suddenly had a vague plan in my mind, so I said: "Jiang Lian Lord's words are wrong, I heard the noise outside, so I came out to see the excitement, that person suddenly climbed, there are several buildings nearby, how do you know that this person is climbing and bending, the joint master listens to the words of one side, and it is inevitable that he has a shi identity." β€˜

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