On the morning of the next day, Li Yuntian led Zheng Liang and Li Yi'an and other civil and military officials above the third rank to change into civilian clothes and left the county seat of Dinghai County.

Since Li Yuntian's trip this time is in the nature of a private visit to Weifu, even Zheng Liang, who is a noble household secretary in Nanjing, does not know his destination, which is Li Yuntian's consistent style to avoid his itinerary being interfered with by the outside world.

However, Li Yuntian, Zheng Liang, Li Yi'an and others were all members of the ruling party of the imperial court, so for the sake of safety, an elite Xiaowu army followed Li Yuntian and his party from afar to protect them secretly.

On the carriage, Li Yuntian was chatting and laughing with the round-faced soldier who knelt down yesterday and begged to go home to support his sick mother and take care of his younger siblings, and no one would have thought that he would go to the round-faced soldier's house.

The round-faced soldier never dreamed that he would be able to share a car with Li Yuntian, let alone that the dignified King Zhongwu would visit his home, so he was extremely excited, and his good impression of the amiable Li Yuntian doubled, and the whole person relaxed.

As soon as Li Yuntian left so suddenly, the civil and military officials gathered couldn't help but secretly guess Li Yuntian's intentions, and the most anxious among them was Zhao Yang, the commander of Dinghaiwei, who was a thief, and sent someone to secretly follow the back of the team to know where Li Yuntian went.

It's a pity that it didn't take long for the people sent by Zhao Yang to follow him to be discovered by the Xiaowu army guarding the palace, and they were arrested and warned, and then came back to report to him in a gloomy manner, which made his mood even more anxious.

Dinghaiwei commanded the envoy to the yamen, the back house.

Zhao Yang paced back and forth in the living room nervously, what he was most afraid of was that Li Yuntian would pay a private visit, once those blind Diao people talked nonsense and said something that should not be said, then he would be in big trouble.

"Brother Zhao, I have already admonished those recruits, and promised to give them a hundred catties of rations each, and they will no longer talk nonsense in front of the prince." A thin military attache walked in and said to Zhao Yang in a deep voice, this person is Ding Haiwei's commander Dong Mangui, the number two person in Ding Haiwei.

Zhao Yang was a little relieved when he heard this, what happened to the round-faced soldiers yesterday scared him into a cold sweat, in order to avoid similar things from happening again, he asked Dong Mangui to coerce and lure those recruits, to ensure that those recruits who didn't know the height of the sky would not talk nonsense.

As for the veterans in the barracks, Zhao Yang is not worried, because the veterans who stayed behind are all his people, and they all "have military merits" in the battle with the Japanese invaders, so naturally they will not dismantle his platform.

"Brother Dong, where do you say the prince is going?" After letting Dong Mangui sit down, Zhao Yang frowned and asked, I don't know why he always felt inexplicably flustered.

"King Zhongwu is unfathomable, and his whereabouts are really hard to guess." Dong Mangui shook his head when he heard this, among the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty, he was most afraid of Li Yuntian, because Li Yuntian often likes to play cards out of common sense, and it is difficult to guess his thoughts.

"Do you think the prince will go to those military fields?" Zhao Yang hesitated for a moment, and asked Dong Mangui tentatively, Li Yuntian seemed unhappy when he learned that the round-faced soldier had lost his family's military field yesterday.

According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, the military land cultivated by military households belongs to the state and cannot be transferred privately, and Li Yuntian, as a loyal and martial king, naturally knows this.

"The younger brother is not worried about this, the situation of the various guards in the world is almost the same, if anyone moves the military field, he is the enemy of the military attache in the world, and the Zhongwu King will definitely not take the military field, otherwise the governors of the governor's mansion and the cabinet members of the military pavilion will not sit idly by."

Dong Mangui didn't agree with Zhao Yang's statement, and after thinking about it, he said with a stern expression, "The younger brother is afraid that the Zhongwu King will know that the Japanese are attacking and that we Dinghaiwei will not be able to resist the incident on the night. ”

"We are not fleeing from the battle, but avoiding their edge and luring the Japanese to fight outside the town." Zhao Yang frowned again when he heard this, and opened his mouth to correct Dong Mangui's statement.

"Yes, avoid the enemy's edge." A look of helplessness flashed on Dong Mangui's face, except for this statement, Ding Haiwei couldn't explain the fact that he didn't fight with the Japanese in the town, so as to cover up the truth of the rout.

"We fought bravely, killing 591 enemies and capturing 36 people, this record is brilliant enough for the garrison troops." Zhao Yang glanced at Dong Mangui and said in a deep voice, "No matter who asks, we will bite this statement to death." ”

"Little brother understands." Dong Mangui bowed slightly to Zhao Yang when he heard this, and looked at him with some concern, "Junior brother is worried about those Diao people who have been cut off by us, if their families take advantage of King Zhongwu to make some trouble, then things will be bad." ”

"At that time, we cut off the heads of those Diao people under the banner of King Zhongwu, who dared to go to King Zhongwu to ask for justice?" Zhao Yang sneered when he heard this, and the corners of his mouth showed a smug look, "Now those Diao people must hate King Zhongwu to death in their hearts, so we don't have to worry about them ruining our business." ”

Dong Mangui bowed his head slightly when he heard this, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief, praying in his heart that Dinghaiwei could avoid this catastrophe, otherwise not only him and Zhao Yang, but also many people would lose their heads.

Zhaojiatun is located in the southwest of Dinghai County, is the farthest away from the Dinghaiwei command of the Yamen of a military household, with three or four hundred households, east of the sea, west of the mountain.

When Li Yuntian and his entourage arrived at Zhaojiatun, it was already noon, and it was just time for lunch, when wisps of cooking smoke rose above Zhaojiatun.

Several children were playing under the big tree at the entrance of the village, and when they saw a convoy coming, they immediately surrounded them curiously, crooked their necks to look at these brightly dressed outsiders.

"Brother Dahai!" The convoy stopped at the entrance of the village, and when the round-faced soldier emerged from the carriage, the children immediately recognized him and greeted him excitedly.

The round-faced soldier's surname was Zhao, his name was Zhao Dahai, and he held a bag of pastries in his hand, and gave it to the children with a smile.

"Brother Dahai is back!" A few children took the pastries and ran towards the village as they ate.

"Boss Li, please." Zhao Dahai bowed down and made a gesture of invitation to Li Yuntian and the others.

Li Yuntian, Zheng Liang and others are now businessmen, so Zhao Dahai called them bosses, and under the guidance of Zhao Dahai, everyone entered the village in a mighty way.

The simple courtyards on both sides of the road are some low thatched houses, because the courtyard walls made of mud are not high, the burly Li Yuntian can even see the situation in the courtyard, there are not many things in tatters, it can be said that the family is surrounded by four walls, and it can be seen that the people in this village are very poor.

"The sea, my second egg is okay in the barracks."

"The sea, Huzi's father is fine."

"The sea, why are you back, when are they coming back?"

……

Knowing that Zhao Dahai had returned, men, women and children in the village immediately flocked out and gathered around him to ask for news.

Seeing this, the guards immediately stepped forward to protect Li Yuntian, Zheng Liang and the others in the middle, separating them from the villagers who were in tattered clothes and had yellow faces and thin muscles.

Zhao Dahai hurriedly explained to the villagers, saying that he was ordered to take Li Yuntian and others to the next county in the north to discuss business, and this time he came back just passing by the village, and said that the men in the Dinghaiwei military camp in the village were safe and sound, so he rushed away from the crowd that was a little excited, and took Li Yuntian and others to his home.

The villagers saw that Li Yuntian, Zheng Liang and others were richly dressed and seemed to be very rich, so they followed behind and watched the excitement.

On the way, Zhao Dahai met a child and let him ride on his neck, this child was his younger brother.

Zhao Dahai has three younger brothers and two younger sisters, the eldest brother is fifteen, and the youngest sister is only five years old, due to the death of his father three years ago, coupled with his mother's poor health, the burden of the family suddenly fell on Zhao Dahai, who was only sixteen years old at the time.

"Mother, I'm back!" Coming to a dilapidated mansion with low mud courtyard walls, Zhao Dahai excitedly pushed the door and walked in.

"Ahem, the sea, why did you come back?" In the courtyard, a middle-aged woman in her forties was being helped out of the hall by a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl, and when she saw Zhao Dahai, she couldn't help but ask in surprise, "The barracks are willing to let you go?"

"Mother, I'm passing by here, so I'll go home and have a look." Zhao Dahai said casually, then turned around and introduced Li Yuntian behind him, "Mother, this is Boss Li from Nanjing City, they are going to the next county to discuss business, let me lead the way." ”

"Quick, move the stool out for a couple of gentlemen to sit on." The middle-aged woman saw that Li Yuntian, Zheng Liang and the others were richly dressed and extraordinary, and knew that it was a nobleman who came, so she said to the girl who was supporting her, "Remember to wipe the stool clean." ”

When the girl heard this, she hurriedly entered the house, took out a few old stools, wiped them clean and placed them in the courtyard, Li Yuntian took the lead in sitting down, and Zheng Liang and the others sat down.

Since there were only five stools, Li Yi'an, Luo Yong and others had to stand aside in an orderly manner.

The guards had already guarded the gate of the courtyard at this time, and they didn't want to let the villagers in, but after Li Yuntian waved it, the guards let some villagers in.

The rest of the villagers leaned on the wall and looked out into the courtyard with great interest, for there had never been so many nobles dressed in brocade in the village.

"Mother, where is my second brother?"

Zhao Dahai introduced his younger brothers and sisters to Li Yuntian, it was her eldest sister Zhao Dalan who supported the middle-aged woman, it was his fourth brother Zhao Sihai who was riding on his neck before, the third brother Zhao Sanhai went to the mountain to chop wood, and the other was his Zhao Erlan, who timidly hid behind the middle-aged woman and looked at Li Yuntian and the others, and then looked around the courtyard and asked.

"Big brother, second brother went to the town to sell fish, and he is estimated to be back soon." Without waiting for the middle-aged woman to speak, Zhao Dahai's fourth brother Zhao Sihai said excitedly, "Last night, the second brother followed Uncle Mancang and them out to sea to fish, and caught a lot of big fish, and when they sold those fish, they could give their mother medicine." ”

"Old Five, don't talk nonsense." The middle-aged woman's face couldn't help but change when she heard this, and she hurriedly said Zhao Sihai, you must know that the imperial court has issued a ban on the sea, and those who go to the sea to fish without permission will be severely punished. R1148