When the army returned to Xiangyang, Bai Yijie's blush of shame had not yet receded from his face, after all, he had been ridiculed by thousands of men all the way, even if he was well-cultivated, he would not be affected in the slightest.

However, when he returned to the Yamen of the Metropolitan Division, he quickly got rid of the embarrassment, not because he had a clever plan, but because everyone had a new object of ridicule.

When Ge Huai and Yang Luo greeted Zheng Yunming at the entrance of the yamen, they both had evil smiles on their faces, and Yang Luo reported in an ambiguous tone: "There is a strong man Lai Wengong, who came to serve with Lai Zongming, the leader of the Jingnan tea merchants, and has been waiting in the side hall for a long time, waiting for Dutong to return to the city to receive him. ”

Zheng Yunming blushed and said, "Let me change my clothes and see each other!" ”

Everyone followed Zheng Yunming into the yamen with strange smiles, and everyone was looking forward to seeing what this future Taishan of the capital would look like.

Zheng Yunming changed his official robes and brought the generals and shogunate officials to the main hall and sat down. Then Yang Luo led Lai Wengong and Lai Zongming in.

That Lai Wengong is eight feet long, dignified, and his perennial skin not only does not give people a feeling of vicissitudes, but makes people feel copper and iron, and naturally gives birth to a sense of awe.

This may be a natural leader temperament. He was also burly standing behind him. Lai Zongming, who had thick eyebrows and big eyes, said: "Zheng Dutong is here, why don't you hurry up and pay homage!" ”

Lai Wenming stepped forward and knelt down, bowed his head, and said: "The villain has been living in a daze for many years, the day before yesterday, the uncle came to the villain's house and said the truth of being loyal to the country, and explained the stakes to the villain. ”

Zheng Yunming said with a straight face: "It has not been a few years since you trafficked illicit tea in Hubei to fight against the official army, and since the end of the Tang Dynasty, tea merchants in Hubei have been selling tea privately to evade the state's taxes. Originally, according to the law of the country, the general should have personally led a large army to crusade, but now that the Mongols are pressing the border, the Mongols will slaughter the country, the people of Jinghu or you tea merchants indiscriminately. At present, I won't pay too much attention to some things in the past, but you remember, my subordinates must strictly abide by military discipline and not disturb the place, otherwise anyone who violates military law will be severely punished in accordance with military regulations! ”

The tea merchants in Hubei have always been fierce and unruly, and they regard the law of the country as nothing, and they do not add a little color at this time, but they are afraid that they will not change their banditry and still harm the people, but become their own scourge.

Lai Zongming lay on the ground in a proper manner and said: "The villain doesn't dare, I will strictly abide by the rules after my brothers return to the capital, and I will never dare to do that troublesome thing again." ”

Zheng Yunming nodded and asked, "This time you joined the official army, how many people did you bring in total?" ”

"Five hundred and thirty-four in all." Hubei's smuggler tea merchants have always been thousands of people, the most powerful of which are these hundreds, once the government appeases, Hubei's tea market trade will also be peaceful for a while. However, the imperial court's tea tax on Hubei is still a heavy tax, and with this piece of profit in it, there are no latecomers who are willing to take big risks.

However, with this period of buffer, the Hubei Transshipment Division can also have further time to reform the shortcomings of tea production and circulation and improve the production efficiency of tea farmers. Perhaps this is also an opportunity to reform tea production.

At least, the garrison of Xiangyang can increase by 500 strong, and his promise to his father to take care of the Jinghu tea merchant army can also be fulfilled. Even for this reason, Zheng Yunming should be a little partial to these strong men from Hubei.

Waiting for Lai Zongming to stand up, Lai Wengong arched his hand and said: "Dutong sent a letter to Wen Gong to do what Wen Gong wanted, and Wen Gong has done it. I still have a lot of affairs at home, please forgive me for not being able to stay in Jinghu for more. Ignoring whether Zheng Yunming opened his mouth to stay, he turned around and walked towards the outside of the yamen.

Everyone was taken aback, they thought that when Weng and his son-in-law met, they always had to have a good intimacy, maybe the capital would arrange for Lai Wengong to have a good trip in Jinghu, Lai Wengong had a lot of robes in the old days of Jinghu, why not delay for ten days and a half months. Unexpectedly, Lai Wengong's attitude was rude this time, and after recruiting Jingnan tea merchants for the Dutong Division, he left by himself, and did not give Zheng Yunming any face.

What was even more surprising was Zheng Yunming, he stood up, chased Lai Wengong to the main gate of the yamen with his official robe, and shouted: "Lai Zhang, stay!" ”

Lai Wengong turned around and looked coldly at the little official in a crimson official uniform who chased him out quickly, his face sinking like water, and he was silent.

"In addition to official business, the matter with Ling Yuan that I mentioned in the letter" Zheng Yunming came to Lai Wengong, and before he could finish a sentence, Lai Wengong grabbed his front placket and pulled him into the distance face to face.

What Zheng Yunming saw was an angry face with cracked eyes.

Lai Ruyue, who was standing not far away and was firmly guarded by Shi Wenhu, exclaimed, and wanted to rush over to separate the two. But the arm was immediately firmly grasped by Shi Wenhu, and it was as difficult to break free as an iron tong.

The sergeant guarding the gate saw that Lai Wengong was suddenly rude to the capital, and shouted loudly while raising his sword and gun to surround him.

Lai Wengong turned a blind eye to the soldiers who surrounded him, stared at Zheng Yunming and said word by word: "I have fought for Zheng Qingzhi for ten years in Jinghu, and today you want to snatch my only daughter, let me tell you the little official, with me Lai Wengong in one day, you will never see Yue'er again!" ”

With a strong push of his left hand, he pushed Zheng Yunming out a few steps. didn't speak, turned around, grabbed Lai Ruyue's arm with one hand, and dragged her away quickly. Lai Ruyue was forcibly pulled by her father, and kept looking back at Zheng Yunming, her big eyes were full of tears, and she looked like she was begging for pleading, just hoping that Zheng Yunming would quickly think of some way.

Zheng Yunming felt the blood surging in his head, his anger pierced his chest, and he reached out to pull out the sword at his waist. This is a signal in the army, and the general draws his sword out of the sheath, that is, he is facing the enemy of his own army.

Suddenly, a strong hand pressed the hilt of the sword he was about to draw. Zheng Yunming looked back angrily, Bai Yijie stood behind him, and shook his head slowly but firmly.

Such a reckless and rash method of handling the matter is by no means the rational and calm that the commander of the army should have.

The muscles on Zheng Yunming's face twitched, and he gritted his teeth and put the sword back into the box hatefully. He suddenly rushed forward to catch up with Lai Wengong's father and daughter, who were rushing towards the dock, and shouted: "Lai Zhang, please let me and Yue'er say a word, just one sentence." ”

Lai Wengong stopped, turned around and glared at Zheng Yunming, but when he saw his daughter's face full of tears and her eyes full of pleading, her heart inevitably hurt, and she waved her hand: "Say it quickly!" Don't see each other again after that! ”

Zheng Yunming knew that this opportunity was fleeting, and if he missed this opportunity, maybe his marriage with Lai Ruyue would really be gone. At this time, the last thing you need is the affection of children, but decisive action.

He took out the brocade ribbon given by the emperor at the imperial banquet from his arms and stuffed it into Lai Ruyue's hand.

"This is the brocade belt given by the emperor back then, and the emperor allowed me to use this belt, so that I can kill and overstep my authority, which is the most important thing on me now." Zheng Yunming said anxiously: "You take it, remember carefully, you are my Zheng Yunming's wife, I am Lai Ruyue's father-in-law, don't talk about your father, even the emperor and the gods and Buddhas can't shake this fact." ”

Lai Wengong was a little surprised, he didn't expect this little official to have this kind of thing in his hand, in case he wanted to use this royal belt to make himself agree to the marriage, he couldn't resist. So he hurriedly glanced at Shi Wenhu, and led Lai Ruyue to leave in a hurry.

"You wait at home with peace of mind, I will definitely find a way!" Blocked by Shi Wenhu, Zheng Yunming shouted loudly at Lai Ruyue, who was desperately looking back.

"After all, what can you do to convince this old man?" Standing at the door of the Yamen of the Metropolitan Division, Bai Yijie shook the white feather fan he retrieved from home: "This Lai Zhuangshi doesn't seem to be able to be persuaded casually in a few words. ”

"There must be a way!" Zheng Yunming waved his hand and said, "Is he Laizhang Wokotai or Qu Out?" Is it Subutai or Jebel? Our Mongol army has seen it, and we can't deal with a mere Lai Wengong? ”

"If you want to be strong, naturally you have nothing to say," Bai Yijie shook his head and sighed: "Although Lai Zhang, who was once a brave general in Jinghu, he could not control him by dispatching five or seven hundred people to deal with it?" But what you want is someone else's daughter, and you have to convince Lao Taishan's heart, not force. ”

Shi Wenhu, who was standing on the side, suddenly said: "The villain dares to say two words, the matter of Dutong and my little lady was not very reliable. ”

Zheng Yunming showed surprise on his face: "It turns out that Brother Shi hasn't left yet, how unreliable this marriage is, if you have something to say, just say it directly." ”

Shi Wenhu said: "To put it simply, you can't be the right person, they are all from a famous family, and the wife who will marry in the future is either from a noble background, or an important minister like Zheng Xianggong, how can you be willing to put down your body and marry a family in Jingnan who is dressed in clothes?" Even if they are willing to insist, Zheng Xianggong will never agree. ”

There is the Song generation, the most important filial piety, if Zheng Qingzhi does not open his mouth to agree, even if Zheng Yunming likes Lai Ruyue again, the little lady of the Lai family will definitely not be able to enter the door of the prime minister's house. Secondly, Zheng Yunming also believes that the marriage arranged by the family must be related to the exchange of political interests, and this main room must be a celebrity of an official with a pivotal position in the officialdom. And it will never be the turn of Lai Ruyue, a girl from a civilian family.

"Even if she enters the door of the Zheng family as a concubine, what if I really treat her as a concubine?" Zheng Yunming said: "What's more, with a concubine room with me as the son of a prime minister, it shouldn't be considered an insult to the lintel of the Lai family?" ”

Shi Wenhu shook his head and sighed: "The problem is here, although the little lady herself doesn't mind being a concubine." But a person as arrogant as my master cherishes the little lady like a pearl in her hand, how could she be wronged to be a concubine and suffer? I expected that after the master went back, he would quickly arrange family affairs for the little lady, and there would be no delay for a moment. If you want to be in harmony with the little lady, you have to find a way quickly. ”