It was already late at night, and the sky and earth were dark, but the Zheng family, as one of the five major clans in the south of the Yangtze River, was as bright as day, and it became clearer and clearer to find out the sad faces of several people. The top person is not tall and slightly fat, and his round face is even fairer and ruddy, which can be seen to be pampered, but the gray sideburns of the years are not deceitful, and the age is not small, although there is a warm smile on the face, but after looking at each other for a long time, you can feel the hypocrisy hidden under this smile, it is Zheng Shenyuan, the head of the Zheng family.

Zheng Shenyuan's first man looks a little similar to him, the same side and the same round face and the same smile, but he is much younger, it is Zheng Shenyuan's eldest son Zheng Qingyuan, but the name Zheng Qingyuan is specially designed by Zheng Weijun, the ancestor of the Zheng family, after he threw himself into the city, hoping that his descendants will be quiet and indifferent, quiet and far-reaching.

The next man was already gray, and his face was full of wrinkles, but his shoulders were broad and his body was straight, and he could vaguely see the majestic posture of his youth. Sima Changyin, the confidant of Zheng Weijun, the ancestor of the Zheng family, has passed his prime, and is highly respected in the Zheng family.

There is also a man in the lobby, sitting opposite Zheng Qingyuan, this person is about forty years old, his figure is long and cyan robe, his face is thin and his eyes are brighter and brighter, this person is Xi Yunjie, the secretary of the Huainan Provincial Governor's Mansion. The secretary in charge is only a positive five products, but he is in charge of the secret skills of the military, political and civil affairs organs all the way, so that he has great power, of course, Xi Yunjie, as the confidential secretary of the former governor, is naturally Yang Gongling's confidant, and now it is a little interesting to come to the Zheng family.

In the silence, Zheng Shenyuan suddenly laughed, looked at Xi Yunjie and said: "Brother Xi, when Governor Li first arrived in Jiangdu, brother, you have been busy all day long, how can you have time to come to the Humble House today?" ”

Xi Yunjie, as the secretary of the former Metropolitan Governor Yang Gongling, is very familiar with many officials and families in Huainan, not to mention a behemoth like the Zheng family? When the three of them got together, they naturally discussed important matters, not to mention that Xi Yunjie didn't believe in the Zheng family's ability, and he didn't know that the Seventh Prince was rushing to Jiangdu, and he was afraid that it had something to do with it. Thinking so in his heart, Xi Yunjie didn't break it, but clenched his fists and said: "Elder Zheng, Xi just got the news that the Seventh Prince has left Pingjiang Mansion and is rushing to Jiangdu. ”

Zheng Shenyuan naturally knew about this matter, and was discussing countermeasures for this, but in the face of Xi Yunjie, he smiled and said: "The old man has heard the name of the Seventh Prince for a long time, and this time he came to Jiangdu, and the old man should pay a visit." After a slight pause at this, Zheng Shenyuan's smile became more and more kind, and then he said: "If Governor Li has any orders, Brother Xi will tell the old man, and the old man will promise to satisfy the governor." ”

Seeing that Zheng Shenyuan was still playing haha to himself, especially seeing his hypocritical smiling face, Xi Yunjie suddenly became endlessly angry, and a light flashed in his slender eyes, but to be able to become the secretary of Huainan Dao, Xi Yunjie suppressed his anger between his breaths, and said without being salty: "The Seventh Prince's trip is to rectify the rule of Jiangnan officials, Jiangnan Dao, Pingjiang Mansion Taishou Zheng has been imprisoned, and Pingjiang Prison is even more overcrowded. Hmph, that day, it took a lot of thought for the joint governor to suppress this matter. ”

Zheng Shenyuan couldn't listen to the sarcasm in Yun Jie's words, but decades of experience made his expression not a little different, and he said with a sigh: "The old man couldn't stand the bitter pleading of Brother Dong that day, thinking that it was just some trouble, who would have thought that it was the heavenly thorn thief who made trouble, even Wei Jiangtao was a heavenly thorn rebel, the harmed Huainan Wei suffered a defeat, and three thousand soldiers buried their bones in another country, the old man regretted it!" ”

Zheng Shenyuan's words, Xi Yunjie only believed that the last sentence was his sincere words, if he knew that it was a heavenly thorn and a thief, even if he put a knife on his neck, he would not participate in it, that is, the governor of the capital, he would not and would not conspire with Zheng Shenyuan to suppress this matter, but unfortunately, there is never a if in this world. Soon, Xi Yunjie put away all his emotions and opened his mouth to say: "Elder Zheng, now is not the time to sigh, let's think about how to deal with the Seventh Prince, the Seventh Prince's comer is not good this time, and as far as Xi knows, the Seventh Prince is anxious about the Qian family, and he left after breaking through Qi'an, leaving his loyal servant Sun Hou behind, to find out why the Heavenly Thorn Traitor chose Qi'an, Dong Taishou is a person, but everyone knows it." ”

Although Xi Yunjie is the secretary of Huainan Province, he is only a secretary and doesn't know much, he only thinks that the Zheng family, as the top gate valve in the south of the Yangtze River, has great merit and great Chu back then, and should be able to survive this crisis safely, if he can stab the three commanders Xie Donglin is Xie family, he deliberately pulled the Zheng family into the water and pulled the Zheng family to accompany the funeral, saying that he would not come to the Zheng family to discuss countermeasures, I am afraid that how far away he will hide, but as he just sighed, there is never a if in this world.

Zheng Shenyuan is an old fox, he heard Xi Yunjie's meaning in a word, and in an instant, he had a plan, and the smile on his face was scattered and said helplessly: "Since Brother Xi is clear, the old man will not hide it from you, the old man has just received the news that the Seventh Prince is rushing to Jiangdu, so he came to Mr. Sima to discuss countermeasures, and the heavenly thorn thief can't touch it!" ”

Seeing Zheng Shenyuan's sad face, Xi Yunjie believed his words instead, and opened his mouth to ask, "Does Old Zheng have a countermeasure?" Mr. Sima's name has been admired by students for a long time. At the end of the words, Xi Yunjie even hugged his fist and saluted Sima Changyin, but Sima Changyin only waved his hand and never opened his mouth.

Zheng Shenyuan still had a sad face, shook his head and said, "What can you care about, don't you mean to look at the Seventh Prince?" This time, my Zheng family really jumped into a puddle, but Brother Xi, you stay by Governor Li's side all day long, as long as you can win the favor of Governor Li, Governor Li's words are enough to protect your safety, my Zheng family, I'm afraid it will be difficult to protect myself this time! ”

How could Xi Yunjie not understand this, but if he could gain Li Huairen's trust, how could he use to find his old rival Zheng family? It's just that Zheng Shenyuan's own inability to protect himself is a little scoffed, and he opened his mouth and said: "Zheng Lao Mo said that he laughed, with the status of the Zheng family in Jiangnan, how dare the Seventh Prince move?" What's more, the saint is vigorously relying on the Jiangnan clan and Zheng Lao. In the words of the pun, Xi Yunjie even hugged his fists and saluted Zheng Shenyuan, and there was a faint sense of surrender, because according to Xi Yunjie's guess, Chu Haoyu must sort out the officials of Huainan Province, and those officials of the Zheng family may not be spared, so they want to lean on the big tree of the Zheng family at a difficult moment, after all, as the secretary of Jiangnan Province, he still has some use.

Seeing that Xi Yunjie really didn't believe it, but thought it was true, Zheng Shenyuan laughed even more on his funny face, and opened his mouth to say: "Then thank Brother Xi's good words, in the future, the old man can't say that he will have to disturb Brother Xi." ”

Xi Yunjie heard the meaning of Zheng Shenyuan's words, and also knew that he was sending off a guest, so he hugged his fists again and said: "Old Zheng is polite, Xi is desperate." It's late at night, so Xi won't bother you anymore and leave. ”

Seeing Xi Yunjie disappear as he walked out of the lobby, Zheng Qingyuan, who had been silent for a long time, snorted coldly and shouted, "Stupid." ”

Zheng Shenyuan heard the disdain in his son Zheng Qingyuan's words, laughed out loud, and opened his mouth to say: "He is not stupid, but he was forced to be unable to do so, so he got on our thief ship." After a pause at this, Zheng Shenyuan couldn't help but smile again, but his expression was full of helplessness and despair, and he sighed: "If he knew that the boat was broken, he didn't know what his expression would be?" ”

Staring at Zheng Shenyuan, Zheng Qingyuan blurted out and asked, "Daddy, there's really no way, Mr. Sima?" ”

At this moment, not only Zheng Qingyuan set his eyes on Sima Changyin, but Zheng Shenyuan also stared at him, expecting him to come up with a trick to crack the game.

After a moment of silence, Sima Changyin opened his mouth and said: "The reason why Xie Donglin chose Qi'an is because Dong Dachen is insatiable, and Dong Dachen married my Zheng family and led my Zheng family into the fire pit to avenge the revenge of the year. The world has been peaceful for thirty years, and the change of Qi'an is a slap in the face of the Chu family, and a slap in the face of the saint, a Yang Gong order is not enough to calm His Majesty's anger, not to mention that Yang Gong order is a suicide in fear of sin, and has not been tried by the imperial court, so someone is still needed to calm the anger of the saint, and my Zheng family is the best choice. After a pause at this, Sima Changyin's lonely eyes suddenly lit up, and then said: "Yang Gongling's death is also quite suspicious, but unfortunately it can't be verified. ”

Suddenly, Zheng Shenyuan's brows furrowed, and he opened his mouth to ask, "Mr. Sima, are you saying that Yang Gongling's death was also the hand and foot of the Heavenly Thorn Traitor?" ”

It's no wonder that Zheng Shenyuan was surprised, the Metropolitan Governor is a high-ranking official in the feudal territory, and the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion is heavily guarded by armor soldiers, if he is assassinated by the Heavenly Thorn Traitor......

Sima Changyin saw the shock in the eyes of Zheng Shenyuan's father and son, and said slowly: "The Heavenly Thorn is the shadow of the previous dynasty, and the accumulated strength for hundreds of years is unfathomable, and it is rumored that the first emperor was assassinated by the Heavenly Thorn traitor, otherwise, with the martial arts cultivation of the first emperor's grandmaster realm, how could he not survive the ancient years?" After a pause at this, Sima Changyin shook his head, and then said: "The old man also thought of this after learning Xie Donglin's identity. Xie Donglin wanted my Zheng family to accompany his Xie family to the funeral, in order to force my Zheng family to a desperate situation, he first planned the Qi'an civil rebellion, and then used the relationship between Dong Dachen and my Zheng family to run around and finally finally joined forces with Yang Gongling to suppress this matter. Yang Gongling committed suicide, Zhang Boyang is nowhere to be found, the two of them are the leaders of Huainan Dao, and the long history of Lu Liangwei is not enough to calm the anger of the saint, so my Zheng family will bear the brunt of it. ”

Hearing Sima Changyin's words, Zheng Shenyuan's father and son's faces changed greatly, could it be that the Zheng family really wanted to perish in their hands? After being silent for a long time, Zheng Shenyuan looked at Sima Changyin expectantly and asked, "Mr. Sima, you have seen through this situation, is it really impossible to crack it?" ”

Under the gaze of Zheng Shenyuan's father and son, Sima Changyin sighed lightly and then opened his mouth and said: "The Zheng family has been forced to death by Xie Donglin, and there is only one way that may be able to calm the anger of the Seventh Prince, but unfortunately, we can't find it." ”

Hearing that Sima Changyin had a way, Zheng Shenyuan's eyes lit up with two rays of light, but it immediately dimmed, and it was also a faint sigh, the Chu family had not been able to find the shadow of the leader of the Heavenly Thorn for thirty years, where did they look for it? In an instant, Zheng Shenyuan seemed to have aged for several years, and his face was no longer lifeless but became lifeless.