The weather is fine, the eight boatmen of the official ship of the Weaving Bureau take turns to travel boats, paddle like flying, from the Xixing Canal through Qianqingyan to the Qiantang River only one night time, the third morning of the first month of September landed on the north bank of the Qiantang River, there are already the carriages of the Weaving Bureau waiting, Eunuch Zhong's godson Xiao Gao was ordered to pick up Zhang Yuan - this little eunuch is thirteen years old this year, thin and small, but the person is clever, knowing that Zhang Yuan is a valued guest of Eunuch Zhong, observing words and feelings, very flattering, respectfully said: "Zhang Gongzi, my godfather's ancestral hall is scheduled to open the ancestral hall on the ninth day of the first month to receive incense, At the beginning, it was Zhang Gongzi who suggested that Shizhu Tusi build a shrine for my godfather, and the ancestral hall was built in Baobao Mountain, which was also selected by Zhang Gongzi and my godfather, so my godfather wanted to invite Zhang Gongzi to participate in this grand ceremony. ”

Zhang Yuan asked, "Is there anyone coming from Shizhu Tusi?" ”

Xiao Gao said: "Back to Zhang Gongzi's words, that Lord Qin has sent an urgent report, saying that he must arrive before the eighth day of the first month, this ancestral hall was built by Shizhu Tusi for my godfather, if the people of Shizhu Tusi do not come, how to open the shrine and incense!" ”

Zhang Yuanxin said: "Brother Qin left Shanyin at the end of April and returned to eastern Sichuan, and now it is the beginning of September, and he is coming again, and he is basically on the road for half a year." I thought again: "I'm afraid that my name as a eunuch will be confirmed, and if I become an official in the future, I will inevitably be criticized by the Donglin Party." ”

Came to the Yongjinmen Outer Weaving Department, Xiao Gao went in to report, and when he did not move, Eunuch Zhong personally greeted him, and said with a smile on his face: "Zhang Gongzi is talented, he will try to win the championship when he goes back from Hangzhou, and our family is happy to hear this good news for Zhang Gongzi." ”

Zhang Yuanzuo said: "Thank you father-in-law for your concern." ”

Eunuch Zhong took Zhang Yuan's hand and walked towards the office, looked sideways, and said, "I haven't seen you for half a year, Zhang Gongzi has grown a lot taller, and his knowledge has also improved greatly." ”

Zhang Yuan smiled: "Don't dare to slack off." ”

Eunuch Zhong and Zhang Yuan went to the study room in the inner courtyard of the office, and the maid held fragrant tea, and Eunuch Zhong asked them to withdraw, and Wu Ling and Mu Zhenzhen also stood on the outer corridor of the study and waited.

After asking a few words about Zhang Yuan's mansion test and the drought and flood in Shanyin, Eunuch Zhong's voice turned low and said: "Say something to let Zhang Gongzi know, since the beginning of this year, the courtiers have repeatedly asked the Long Live Lord to issue an edict to let the Fu King become a vassal, and the Long Live Lord passed the decree that the Fu King Zhuangtian must have 40,000 hectares before he can become a vassal, and the first auxiliary Ye Xianggao of course refused, and the ancestral training and the meeting were to fight, and this battle was half a year——"

Zhang Yuan said softly: "The emperor knows that it is against the ancestral system not to let King Fu become a vassal, so he deliberately wants to raise the number of King Fu's fields in order to scare the courtiers away. ”

Eunuch Zhong chuckled and said: "Zhang Gongzi knows the mind of the Long Live Lord very well, the Long Live Lord and the courtiers have been fighting for decades about the establishment of the country, and in the end it is the Long Live Lord who gives in, according to the current situation, it is only a matter of time before the Fu King becomes a vassal, and the Fu Wang Mansion in Luoyang was completed last month, and the cost of silver is 400,000 taels, which is twice that of the Lu Wangfu." ”

Zhang Yuanxin said: "Emperor Wanli wants to make King Fu the crown prince, the ministers refuse to agree, it took nearly thirty years between the monarch and the ministers, the late Ming party fought for this, and in the end the emperor had no choice, and he had to make the emperor's eldest son the prince, the emperor ignored the government and politics, was lazy to provide disaster relief, and a little bit did not regard the world as the meaning of the world of his old Zhu family, and the unsatisfactory establishment of the prince should be an important reason, this emperor should be boring, discouraged and lazy——"

Eunuch Zhong saw that Zhang Yuan was silent, so he said again: "Zhang Gongzi, our family admires your vision very much now, you say, if our family returns to Beijing, how should we settle down?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "It's still the same sentence, the icing on the cake is not as good as sending charcoal in the snow." Suddenly, he asked: "What is the spring and autumn of Gonggong Zhong this year?" ”

Eunuch Zhong said: "The boss is stumbling, six out of thirty." ”

Zhang Yuan said: "The prince is in the prime of life, if he is willing to follow the words of the next, the father-in-law must try to be restrained when he returns to Beijing, and he will protect himself, not only the eunuchs in power do not have to go to the knot, but even the crown prince is rarely approached, the crown prince is now a place of right and wrong, and you are not by the side of the crown prince since childhood, and now you deliberately make friends who are very easy to get into trouble." ”

Eunuch Zhong frowned and said, "Then won't our family go back to the palace and sit on a cold bench until they die?" ”

Zhang Yuan asked: "How many sons does the crown prince have?" How old is the eldest son? ”

Eunuch Zhong said: "There are four sons, and the eldest son, Zhu Youxiao, is nine years old this year. ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Gonggong Zhong is one of the ten talented internal officials, if he can serve the eldest grandson of the emperor and the eldest grandson of the pope to read and write after returning to Beijing, it should be a good way, not to be jealous like approaching the crown prince, and the future is very optimistic, of course, few people can see this now." ”

Eunuch Zhong thought to himself: "Our family is thirty-six years old this year, you let our family serve the nine-year-old emperor's eldest grandson, the crown prince doesn't know how to ascend the throne, the emperor's eldest grandson is even more far away, and this emperor's eldest grandson may not be able to become the prince, if our family can live to be seventy or eighty years old, maybe it is possible to be a eunuch." ”

I only heard Zhang Yuan say again: "Gonggong Zhong should take a long-term view, if he is willing to listen to the words of the next, his father-in-law will go down in history." Zhang Yuan's tone was very determined.

Eunuch Zhong said with a smile: "Our family doesn't want to be famous in history, just don't die in vain, Zhang Gongzi is right, instead of sitting on a cold bench in the unpopular prison bureau, it is better for our family to go back to Beijing to accompany the emperor's eldest grandson to study, so that at least there will be no trouble." ”

Zhang Yuan suddenly asked: "Can Gonggong Zhong recognize a eunuch named Li Jinzhong?" "Li Jinzhong is Wei Zhongxian's name when he first entered the palace.

Eunuch Zhong thought for a while, shook his head and said, "I don't remember such a person, Zhong Gongzi asked him what he did?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "I heard people gossiping about such a eunuch and a little martial arts, thinking that my father-in-law knew him, so I asked casually, nothing else." ”

Eunuch Zhong said "oh", but he didn't care.

In this way, Zhang Yuan lived in the weaving department, the next morning accompanied the eunuch Zhong to the gem mountain to see the ancestral hall, the ancestral hall under the Baochu Pagoda three wings, the left is to see the pine platform, the stage is ten thousand pine forest, there is a huge gully deep cliff, the ancestral hall is condescending, very imposing, the ancestral hall is not big, but built extremely exquisitely, the selected wood is the best Nanmu, carved and decorated, it can be called a scene of the gem mountain, as long as the reputation of the eunuch Zhong in Hangzhou is not too bad, this ancestral hall should not be demolished by the angry people as soon as the eunuch Zhong leaves, of course, It is very possible to be misappropriated for other purposes after many years, and it may become part of the Baochu Pagoda - there is no great achievement for the benefit of one party but wants to establish a living ancestral hall, it can only be self-comforting, the current eunuch Zhong is obviously not aware of this, and led Zhang Yuan to look inside and out of the ancestral hall with great interest, and asked Zhang Yuan's opinion, Zhang Yuan naturally praised it again and again, and asked: "Where is the statue of Gonggong Zhong?" ”

Eunuch Zhong said with a smile: "I invited a famous artist in Dongyang to make a statue for our family, it has been molded, and it is temporarily stored in Lingyin Temple. ”

Got off the gem mountain, crossed the lake by boat and returned to the weaving department outside the Yongjin Gate, the eunuch Zhong had his own affairs, could not accompany Zhang Yuan, sent two weaving department officials to accompany Zhang Yuan to play around, this evening, Zhang Yuan and Mu Zhenzhen, Wuling and two weaving department officials stood on the shore of the West Lake, watching the sunset set in the west of the Wulin mountains, suddenly heard the bell clear and melodious, from the south, let people be leisurely, listen to the Zen contained in the bell - oh, this is one of the ten views of the West Lake Nanping evening bell, the bell is also a scene, it is really wonderful, ask the little officer, The official replied, "This is the bell of Nanping Jingci Temple." ”

Another official said: "Nanjing Jiao Zhuangyuan was invited by Mr. Huang Yuyong to give a lecture in Nanping for a month, which started at the end of last month. ”

Zhang Yuan was pleasantly surprised: "Is the champion Jiaohong, wonderful." ”

Mr. Huang Yuyong's name Zhang Yuan has also heard that last year's eldest brother Zhang Dai studied in Hangzhou, which is under Mr. Huang Yuyong, Huang Yuyong is Huang Ruheng, a well-known scholar in the late Ming Dynasty, Wanli 26 years Jinshi, has been the director of the Xianzhi County and Nanjing Rite Department, and has a deep friendship with Zhang Rulin, and Jiao Hong is a university scholar, bibliophile, the subset of history is all involved, the writings are rich, and the current fame is far above Liu Zongzhou, Jiao Hong is the champion of the 17th year of Wanli, Dong Qichang is also the head of this department, Dong Qichang is the first in the second class, Jiao Hong was originally edited by the Hanlin Academy, revised the history of the Ming Dynasty, and then no one presided over the history museum, the history was interrupted, Jiao Hong resigned from the official home, concentrated on writing, Jiao Hong wrote the "Spring and Autumn Left Banknote" fourteen volumes, this book Zhang Yuan did not find, now I heard that Jiao Hong is lecturing here, naturally to go to listen to the lecture and ask for advice - early in the morning of the fifth day of the first month, led by a small official of the Weaving Department, Zhang Yuan took Mu Zhenzhen and Wuling to Nanping to listen to Jiao Zhuangyuan and Huang Jinshi lectures, Nanping Mountain is a branch of Jiuyao Mountain, the trees are luxuriant, the stone wall is like a screen, in the south of Hangzhou City, so it is called Nanping Mountain, There are about seven or eight miles of road from the weaving department outside the Yongjin Gate to Nanping Mountain, four people walk quickly, it does not take half an hour to get to the foot of Nanping Mountain, the little official does not know the specific location of Jiao Zhuangyuan's lecture, so he inquired to the monks of Jingci Temple, the monk pointed out that the lecture is not far behind the temple under the pavilion, it is called the thatched cottage, Mr. Huang Ruheng lives and lectures here - Zhang Yuan is talking to the monks, but he sees three people walking out of the temple, Zhang Yuan knows two of the three people, one is Dong Zuchang, The other was the talented Yishan who lived in the small building in the back garden of his house for three days last month.

Dong Zu was stunned at first, but then he strode forward, pointed and said angrily: "Zhang Yuan, let me bump into it today, see where you are still running!" ”

It was not strange for Zhang Yuan to meet Dong Zuchang, but it was very strange for Yishan to appear next to Dong Zuchang, and he was silent at the moment and asked Dong Zuchang: "Who is Your Excellency?" ”

Dong Zuchang blurted out: "My father Dong Xuanzai-" Then he woke up and said angrily: "What are you pretending to be confused, you won't know me!" However, I am also a little puzzled, that night in Longshan, the swaying lights and shadows are not very real, and Zhang Yuan's stature has been a little higher for most of the past half a year - Dong Zu often said in his heart: "You can't really misidentify someone, right?" But how could he admit his mistake to the Hu maid behind Zhang Yuan, Dong Zu was often furious, and when he said that it was precisely because of this fair-skinned and beautiful Hu maid that he had a conflict, Zhang Yuan kicked him in the chest, and his chest still had a faint pain.

(To be continued)