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"An old friend?"

Who will it be?

Who will come at this time?

Almost the moment he received the letter from the hand of the servant, Zhang Zhidong's eyes suddenly opened.

"Please!"

Before he finished speaking, Zhang Zhidong stood up from his chair.

"I'll go to meet ...... personally"

Zhang Zhidong's words did not fall, but there was already a burst of laughter outside the door.

"If you are an old friend, why do you need to be so polite!"

The familiar voice only made Zhang Renfu also surprised.

"Teacher!"

As soon as Zhang Zhidong walked to the door, he saw his old friend who also had gray hair.

"Brother Zhongzi!"

"Brother Xiangtao!"

"You and I, I haven't seen each other for almost ten years!"

It has indeed been almost ten years, ten years ago, after starting to arrange some things, Sang Zhiping left Wuchang, but he did not go back to his hometown Luoyang, but went to Hainan, the reason why he chose to spend his old age there is mainly because the weather there is warm all year round, the grass is green, and the flowers are blooming, which really makes Sang Zhiping, who likes flowers and trees, happy.

From then on, he was accompanied by the South China Sea. It seems that everything in this world has nothing to do with him, he is just a village wild man who lives in seclusion in the countryside with his concubine, and there, no one knows that this sheep girl who usually keeps Dongshan goats on the coastal hillside was once the confidant of the governor of Huguang.

Of course, Sang Zhiping, who is past his prime, often recalls the past and looks back at the footprints of the past. But at this time, his mind was as calm and empty as the South China Sea under the sun in front of him. It seems that all his emotions have been washed away by the long river of time, and they have been dissolved quietly by infinite time and space. He sometimes laughed from his heart: when he was a strategist for Su Shun, he made it impossible to steal chickens and rice, and he changed his name and surname from then on; What if Sushun succeeds? It's just a tool in the hands of Su Shun or the emperor. Later, he worked as a staff member for Zhang Zhidong for more than ten years, but in the end, he was still busy in vain. Further, what if you don't give Zhang Zhidong a staff member, and be a supervisor yourself? When the "Nine Governors discussed politics", Zhang Zhidong did intend to appoint him as the governor of Hunan, but what could he do?

The predicament of Hubei in the Central Plains and the fact that the Northeast will definitely overthrow the imperial court in the future have made Sang Zhiping's mind more and more sober, even if he is a governor, he will achieve nothing! It's better to live a life like an idle cloud and a wild crane, whether it is fame or status, in fact, it is just to be sold at a price. It is only an exchange, just as a farmer barters grain for cloth and a merchant barters goods for silver.

Indifference to fame and status does not mean indifference to emotions and friendships. In the course of life in the past, those who stayed in Sang Zhihu's mind with friendship, under the wind and sea rain, their images became clearer after the dust was removed. The first place is naturally Zhang Zhidong. That year, Zhang Zhidong, who was shouldering the life of Jin Fu, went to Gubeikou in person and hired him to go out of the mountain. On a moonlit night at Gubeikou, the scene of the two of them making three chapters of the law is still vivid. This moral fellowship that is different from the world will never be forgotten by him.

So he also wanted to meet Zhang Zhidong and talk to him about his new life experience in the next ten years. But because it's thousands of miles away from each other in the south and north, it's really difficult to see each other!

And at the beginning of the month, after seeing the news of Tang Haoran and Shenyang ascending the throne as emperor in the newspaper, he knew that the time for the world to move had come, and he didn't care about the life or death of the Beijing court, the queen mother, and the emperor, but he couldn't let go of Zhang Zhidong, because he knew that he was arrogant, and Tang Haoran was from the house.

It was precisely because he knew Zhang Zhidong that Sang Zhiping decided that no matter what, he had to go to Hubei and see Zhang Zhidong. So I decided to set off. Fortunately, the sea route in Hainan has already been opened at this time, and his body is still strong, so it is not a problem to take a boat all the way. So, they took a ship from Haikou to Hong Kong, and from Hong Kong they changed into a Beiyang shipping ship and went north along the coast to Shanghai, and then transferred to a river ferry from Shanghai. It took twenty-three days along the way, and when he stepped on the dock, he felt the chaos in Wuchang City, which made him anxious and did not freshen up, so he came directly to the governor's mansion, fortunately, although it has been ten years, many old people in the mansion are still there, but no one stopped him, and the old servant led him directly to the study.

After dinner that day, Zhang Zhidong smiled and said to Sang Zhiping:

"Brother Zhongzi, you have read a lot of poems I wrote in the past. Have you read the words I filled?"

Whether it was just dining or now, the two of them didn't talk about any current situation, which will hear him mention Sang Zhiping thought about it and said:

"I don't think I've seen it."

"You haven't seen it."

Zhang Zhidong nodded and said.

"When I was young, I used to fill in the words, but after I entered the Han Garden, I didn't fill in anymore. A few years ago, I passed the train through Anyang, Henan, and remembered that not far away was Yecheng, the capital of Emperor Wu of Wei when he first sealed the Duke of Wei.

Sang Zhiping said in a loud voice:

"That's great, I'm going to appreciate it."

The two came to the study together, the servant held the lamp and served tea, and after sitting down, Zhang Zhidong took out a banner from the drawer. Sang Zhiping took a look, and sure enough, it read "Touching the Fish? Yecheng Nostalgia. So he recited softly.

"Control the northern gateway of the Central Plains, Yuan Cao's old territory. If a dead end dares to give birth to the Son of Heaven, Gon Gon is like a whisper. Whoever counts enough, the strong way is Murong and Tuoba like a dragon and tiger. The war is hard, so that the people can chase joy and have no worries about Gao Wei's leisure singing and dancing. Under the barren platform, the sky is immediately vast and ancient, and a piece of water is the same. The silver gun and iron are missold and sunk, and the spring grass is stormy. It is exciting, hateful is that heroes do not live in the mountains and rivers. There is no master of the tyrant, the rest of the rhyme is talented, the poet is a son, and the imagination is left behind. ”

"How's it going, it's okay!"

Sang Zhiping just finished reading, Zhang Zhidong asked anxiously, the situation is like a novice who has just learned to fill in the lyrics waiting for the judgment of a famous poet.

"It's not just passable, it's very good!"

Sang Zhiping praised repeatedly.

"In one breath, from Cao Cao to the Murong clan, the Tuoba clan, and then to the Gao dynasty, they all counted. A strip of water is the same. It summarized these hurried passers-by in Yecheng. ”

"Brother Zhongzi, you really know words."

Zhang Zhidong stroked his beard and smiled.

"Do you see anything else?"

"Famous!" Sang Zhihu tapped the banner in his hand.

This sentence "Spring grass and wind and rain" is the stolen Wen Tingyun's 'Yecheng wind and rain and heavenly grass'. It was well stolen, and there was no trace of the crime. ”

"Since ancient times, literati have been thieves, and there is no one who does not steal from others."

Zhang Zhidong laughed. He felt as if he hadn't laughed like this in years.

"Hateful is that heroes don't live in the mountains and rivers,. I'm afraid this sentence is the word of "Touching the Fish", I'm not wrong! ”

"That's right." Zhang Zhidong put away his smile. "The great river goes east, and the waves sweep away the romantic characters through the ages. Su Dongpo's sigh made all the heroes in the world disheartened. Brother Zhongzi, I won't tell you, I have often had this kind of sigh in my heart in the past two years, Wei Wu and Tuoba Tao are such heroes in the world, they can't live together in the mountains and rivers, let alone I, Zhang! Alas, Brother Zhongzi, I will tell you only when you come; You're not there, there's no one who can talk to me like that! ”

Sang Zhiping had already sensed Zhang Zhidong's mood from these words, and although he had not talked in depth, he had already seen the similarities between them.

"Brother Xiangtao, hearing you say this, I said that I was relieved!"

Zhang Zhidong's words made Sang Zhiping finally breathe a sigh of relief, and his words had already shown his heart.

"Do you know why I'm here?"

"Yes!"

Zhang Zhidong nodded, and then smiled bitterly.

"Actually, from Ziran to Jiujiang, I knew that he was giving the old man a step! Come to think of it, the old man was ashamed of him after all! ”

"But if it weren't for Brother Xiangtao, I'm afraid there would be no time for Ziran to turn into a dragon today! Drink and peck, I'm afraid this is a predestined thing! ”

The old friend's answer made Zhang Zhidong nod silently, indeed, if he had left him in Hubei back then, I am afraid that there would not be so many ups and downs today.

"Who would have thought that it was unintentional back then, but ...... Ay! ”

After a long sigh, Zhang Zhidong looked at Sang Zhiping and spoke for a while.

"Brother Zhongzi, why did you resolutely leave me that year, apart from the fact that you had no intention of officialdom, is there any other reason?"

Seeing his old friend ask himself like this, Sang Zhiping pondered for a moment before he said:

"Xiangtao, in fact, today's trend was destined ten years ago, ten years ago no one in the world could stop Ziran, even if it was Li Hongzhang, it was just a struggle to maintain the situation, if Ziran was given ten years of work, who in the world could stop it? In that case, why should I focus all my attention on things that I can't fully grasp, so I resolutely decided to take a boat on the five lakes and retreat to the corner of the sea. ”

Zhang Zhidong didn't continue to ask, because he knew that Sang Zhiping had helped him plan a lot of things before leaving, such as training the self-improvement army, training the self-improvement army into the "Zhang Family Army", and even the right to take over Hunan, etc., all of which were from Sang Zhiping's hands, it can be said that he had done his best to do everything he could, as for the rest, it was completely resigned to fate.

"Brother Zhongzi, you can always see farther than me! Back then, you saw it today! ”

Zhang Zhidong was questioned by himself. He regretted it a little: why did he ask this question so late! Back then, he only saw Li Hongzhang, but ignored Tang Haoran, he always thought that Tang Haoran's foundation was weak and it was difficult to achieve great things, but who would have thought that now it would be ......

"Xiangtao, actually, I didn't see it today!"

Sang Zhiping shook his head and said seriously.

"Oh? That ......"

"Ten years ago, what I saw was that if Tang Haoran was given ten years, his momentum would be unstoppable, but he was still young after all, and he couldn't be compared with Hefei, Xiangtao and others in terms of prestige after all, so at that time, I also felt that Xiangtao had a chance to fight, but ......"

After a slight pause, Sang Zhiping sighed.

"But who would have thought that Ziran was in danger of fighting for fame in the war against Russia, after this war, the world's prestige can be said to be all over his body, even if I am in the south of the sky, but I can also hear the villagers say that the Tang Marshal who defeated the foreigners and expanded countless territories, and his prestige and military might naturally achieved his luck."

Sang Zhiping's words made Zhang Zhidong nod thoughtfully, the Chinese people don't seem to be good at military merit, but under such a national merit, how can this person not return to his son?

"Brother Zhongzi, we have been working together for more than ten years and have done many practical things. Do you think these things can be very effective for the country and the people?"

Over the years, there have always been people who accuse Hubei of making money by banning smoking, and Hubei is indeed the same, thinking of Tang Ziran's warning when he left Hubei, it caused a great shadow on Zhang Zhidong's soul. He has always believed that what he has done is all practical things that are beneficial to the national economy and people's livelihood, and he is a meritorious hero of the country and the people. But the fact that there have been more and more smokers in the two lakes over the past decade has made him reflect on what he is doing, and he is no longer so confident in what he is doing.

"It's not easy for you to do things all these years!"

Sang Zhiping did not directly answer his question, and staggered the topic.

"What you say is true."

Zhang Zhidong couldn't help but sigh,

"In the past few years, I have made a detailed review of what I have done in the past few years since I was released to Jinfu, and found that in addition to a little leisure during the period in Taiyuan, in Guangzhou, in Wuchang in the past 20 years, there has not been a moment of peace, not only busy, but also tired, the shape is tired, the heart is more painful, almost every day is like walking between the thorns and thorns."

"yes!"

Sang Zhiping smiled lightly.

"I have been with you for more than ten years."

"It's even harder for so many years since you're gone."

"I know it's often seen in the newspapers."

Sang Zhiping looked at his old friend sympathetically.

"Outsiders see you doing great things vigorously, but I know that you are actually lonely. Many of your good intentions are not understood. You are struggling with all your heart, and many of the things you do are things that others can't do, don't want to do, or dare not do. It can be said that if there is no you, how can there be the prosperity of Hubei and Hunan today? ”

These words made the blood on Zhang Zhidong's body hot. In many years, he had never heard the words of such a confidant. But in the end, he shook his head and said.

"But, after all, it's still not as good as Ziran!"

Yes, after all, it is still not as good as Ziran, thinking about the great changes in the Northeast in the past ten years, and then related to the changes in the two lakes region over the years, Zhang Zhidong shook his head and sighed.

"To be honest, after so many years, the two lakes still haven't left the policy that Ziran offered at the beginning, if it weren't for the policy that Ziran offered back then, I'm afraid it would ......"

Sang Zhiping nodded, looked at the thoughtful Zhang Zhidong and said with relief.

"Ziran's talent, beyond your and my reach, in terms of learning, he is not as good as you, but in terms of the way of the world, we are far inferior to him, think about it, today's China can produce such a person, it is also a blessing for the country......"

"That's it......"

After pondering for a long time, a rare smile appeared on Zhang Zhidong's face.

"That's all we can do! Zhongzi, you say, how will Ziran treat me? (To be continued.) )