Section 1: The population of the Eastern Han Dynasty is currently the largest of the four empires, with nearly 500 million. The population is large, and even the big cities are increasing. The big cities in the north, of course, represented by Kyoto, have a population of nearly two million, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are the largest cities in the world, and of course, there are also some cities with a population of more than one million. If it is the south, then it is the first to push Nanning, the capital of Queensland Province, which is close to the south bank of the Great River.

At this time, it is early winter, but the weather in the south of the Yangtze River is not as good as in the north, and there has been no snow. Zhu Huai was sitting on the edge of a pair of chess, holding his chin with both hands, thinking about it, his eyes were dull, although he was staring at the chessboard, his mind didn't know where to fly.

The rain was falling continuously, and in the yard, the maple leaves were falling almost away, leaving only a few dry yellow leaves trembling in the wind. A young man opposite him yawned, fanned his mouth with his right hand, then stood up, stretched, and said, "Uncle Zhu, after thinking about it for so long, haven't you thought about it yet?" It's been almost half an hour, so how long does it take to make a move? ”

This young man was born very gloomy, with a high nose, a wide mouth, and a pair of slender eyebrows flying obliquely like sideburns, so matched, it made people feel a sense of disharmony. His background is not small, he is the actual ruler of the current imperial court, the fifth son of Taiwei Li Tie, named Li Zhong. Now in the entire imperial court, Li Tie's family is dominant, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is calling for wind and rain in Kyoto. Only in these five southern provinces, because Zhu Huai, the governor of Jiangnan, was the backbone of the former prime minister's faction, he did not express his position for a long time. Li Tie was quite scruples about Zhu Huai, in order to stabilize the other party, he sent Li Zhong to propose marriage with his own letter, saying that he was willing to take Zhu Huai as his son and daughter's family, and the two would support each other in the future and discuss the country together.

Hearing the other party's urging, Zhu Huai raised his head and said with a smile: "Why is the virtuous nephew so aggressive, let me think about it for a while?" He said aloud. Xu was anxious, sweat oozed from his forehead, Li Zhong saw Zhu Huai like this, just smiled slightly, and said: "Uncle, you are bored, what you think in your heart is no longer on the chessboard, so the chess strength is not as good as before, this game, I'm afraid you have already lost." ”

Zhu Huai stood up, took a few steps, and moved his muscles. He is very fat, doughy like a rich man, just looking at his size, he looks like a gentry and businessman, and it is really difficult to hook up with a governor of Jiangnan who controls the five provinces of Jiangnan and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. After a few steps, he turned his head, looked at the chessboard, and thought for a while: "Although the pawn of the virtuous nephew has already filled my heart, he has also deceived too closely, and he has become a veteran, so it is really difficult to threaten." ”

After speaking, he took a few steps forward, grabbed a red car, pushed it forward, and then said: "The second car is into the fourth, and the car is going to patrol the river." ”

Li Zhonglin paused, as if he didn't expect Zhu Huai to respond like this, wiped his eyes, and exclaimed: "Uncle, are you sure you want to play chess like this?" Won't you regret it? Zhu Huai waved his hand: "Hurry up, go quickly, it's so simple to want to toss the old man, it's really underestimating the old man's chess strength." ”

When Li Zhong heard Zhu Huai say this, he walked a few steps quickly, and when he arrived in front of the chessboard, he grabbed a black cannon, and sank to Zhu Huai's bottom line, saying, "Cannon two into six, will!" Uncle, this is a game of shelling the palace, your handsome will definitely die, I won. Zhu Huai was startled, walked to the chessboard in a few steps, circled several times, and then patted his head, and said with a little annoyance: "Oops, oops, this doesn't count, come again, come again, come again, come again." ”

Li Zhong was speechless for a while, he has been here for almost a month, and he plays chess with Zhu Huai almost every day. He shook his neck and said: "Zhu Huai, the governor of Jiangnan, has the reputation of being the governor of books and chess, and his chess strength is rare in the world, but now he is often defeated by his little nephew. ”

Zhu Huai smiled a little unnaturally and said, "Let's play another game, I must go all out this time." "After that, I have to go and rearrange the chess.

Li Zhong pressed Zhu Huai's right hand to play chess, and said: "Uncle, the little nephew has been staying here, it has been almost a month, and my father wrote to urge the boy yesterday to ask you to give an exact answer, Uncle You give an exact answer, I am a little tired of playing chess every day, I hope my uncle will give me an answer as soon as possible, so as not to embarrass me." Speaking of this, he paused, and said a little cowardly: "Miss Jiuwen Zhu is both talented and beautiful, not only is she famous, but her talent is not below her father. Otherwise, the uncle asked Miss Zhu to come out and compete with the little nephew, and the little nephew was grateful. ”

Zhu Huai raised his head, and there was regret in his tone, and said, "Virtuous nephew, didn't the old man say it?" The little girl has been unwell recently, and it is really inconvenient to meet guests, otherwise, when she is well, I will ask her to come to you in person......"

This kind of prevarication, Zhu Huai has used it many times, Li Zhong's face suddenly showed anger, opened his mouth, and wanted to say more, at this time, a housekeeper-like person ran over from afar with an oil-paper umbrella, and said from afar: "Master, master, there is an emergency, there is an urgent matter......

The rain was not heavy, it was sloppy, he ran very quickly, in front of Zhu Huai, he didn't even break the umbrella, threw it to the ground, opened his mouth and gasped: "Urgent, ......urgent" After a long time, the corner of his eyes swept to Li Zhong on the opposite side, but the words behind him couldn't be said, Zhu Huai suddenly frowned, and said: "Lao Hu, how many times have I told you, every time there is a major event, you have to be calm, you look at you, you always don't listen." ”

Li Zhong looked at it clearly, smiled, and said: "Uncle, since you still have urgent matters, the little nephew will leave first, I just hope you will give me an answer, now this situation, just like the current game of chess, the red side is no longer handsome, even if the carts and horses are complete, it is in vain, and only admitting defeat early is justified." After speaking, regardless of the two of them, he picked up a silk umbrella from the side, opened it, and then straightened his clothes, and stepped into the rain curtain step by step.

Zhu Huai saw that Li Zhong had gone far, so he turned his head, pouted and said: "It's really a dragon swimming in shallow water, I want me to wish Huai a beautiful life, and when I get old, I still have to be coerced by such a yellow-mouthed child." "His face is now full of iron, and there is still the gentle air of the wind just now. The housekeeper said on the side: "Master, why don't I take someone to teach this kid a lesson, keep it unaware, ghosts don't know, let this kid want to break his head and don't know who did it......"

Zhu Huai shouted: "Lao Hu, how many times have I told you, you have to use your brains more when you usually do things, don't move the previous set in the army here, now I am the governor, in charge of the military and politics of the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, there are many things, not only can be solved by fighting and killing, you are my housekeeper, usually do things, you have to use your brains more, you know?" As he spoke, he stretched out his index finger, pointed to his head, and looked at Steward Hu, a little hated the way of iron.

Steward Hu dared to fight back, but he was submissive, and nodded vigorously.

After Zhu Huai finished scolding, he put on a sad look again, and said, "Say, what's the matter, making such a fuss." ”

"Master, the princess wrote to say that I am afraid that we will arrive in Nanning in the next few days, you see, do we have to prepare?"

Now that the carrier pigeon is so developed, Tao Yu is going to come to Nanning, Zhu Huai has long known. It's just that even if he knew, he couldn't show the slightest interest, he waved his hand and said, "Didn't I say it?" This princess is coming, let him come, let's eat and drink well, it's over, let's send it to the north, now Li Tie's kid is powerful, we can't afford to provoke it, count me unlucky. ”

Steward Hu took out a letter from his arms, presented it to Zhu Huai with both hands, and said: "It's just that the crown princess also attached a private letter to the brief letter this time, which made it clear that the lord please enlighten, I don't dare to do it, so I will take it for you to see." "Information transmission is also divided into public trust and private communication. In military letters, there is generally a fire paint seal. But not very important, they are all placed in ordinary wooden cylinders. has never been sealed, Tao Yu used ordinary military letters before, so Steward Hu is not taboo, but now it is a private message, so Zhu Huai needs to open it personally.

"Oh, and that kind of thing?" Zhu Huai stretched out his hand to take the letter, then opened it, only to see that it read:

"I wish my uncle a good letter:

Kyoto farewell, two years of star frost, uncle's demeanor, niece really dare not forget, when I want to go south to visit, a heartfelt heart. However, since she got married, she has been fighting with her deceased husband, and she has been delayed until now, and now her niece is even more widowed, and it is inconvenient to visit, and she hopes that her uncle will forgive her.

Niece: Rain"

In just three lines, not even a hundred words, Zhu Huai looked at it again and again, and in the end, he couldn't help laughing. Steward Hu was puzzled and said in surprise: "Master, how are you so happy?" ”

Zhu Huai handed over the letter and note, and Steward Hu took it, the content was not much, but he finished reading it in a few clicks, scratched his head, and also smiled, and said: "Master, the princess admits that she is physically inconvenient, so it is best not to see it, and it also saves us from hollowing out our minds and prevaricating in embarrassment." ”

Zhu Huai stopped laughing, glanced at Steward Hu, and then said, "Old Hu, you're wrong." Now we not only have to settle the crown princess well, but also make a big show and greet the queen mother with the gift of the queen mother's patrol of the place. At the end, he smashed his mouth and sighed: "Tao Ren, this guy, is a soft egg, he was knocked down by Li Tie in a few strokes, and he gave birth to a good daughter." ”

He raised the letter in his hand and continued: "Lao Hu, Niangniang, how many days will it take to reach Nanning?" ”

Lao Hu was confused in other aspects, these were very clear, he took out a booklet from his body, flipped through it, and then said: "Master, according to the report from the post station garrison, the crown princess and their arrival in Nanning will be about three days later." ”

Zhu Huai smiled and patted Steward Hu's shoulder, and then said with a straight face: "Old Hu, remember, don't want the princess in the future, the princess is called, you have to be called 'Niangniang', you know?" Steward Hu scratched his head again and nodded in response, although he didn't understand why the old man was still calling "Crown Princess" just now, why he suddenly asked himself to change his words so solemnly. But following Zhu Huai for so many years, he has long been accustomed to the habit of not thinking too much about everything and not asking too much.

The lord always has his own reasons for doing this.

Zhu Huai stepped forward and drew the chess game just now, and the black and red chess pieces suddenly jumped on the chessboard for a while, and it was difficult to recover the original state. He didn't care, he just snorted softly: "The prince's posthumous son? Interesting. Hmph, I even said that I was not handsome, and now such a sister-in-law fell from the sky to me, isn't this a royal conquest? It's much better than your crooked general who can't be compared to any stalks. ”

After speaking, he couldn't help but be proud and laughed out loud.

Laughter, wafting out of the Doge's Palace.

Far away.

Outside, the winter rain continued.

In a hurry!