Ziyinggou said goodbye to Tao Qingyu and soon returned to Baoying.

Hu Yanjin sent Hua Qiao back to the master's house, and the story was left to Hua Qiao to tell, and he and Yi Chengjin continued to the north, preparing to rush to Huai'an Mansion tonight to stay.

Hua Qiao changed back into women's clothes, playing with the green hosta with one hand and holding her cheeks with the other, thinking sullenly: Senior brother, he won't be able to come back for at least a month or two, right? Or if the imperial grandson left him in Suncheon, it would be even more unnoticeable......

Originally, from Yangzhou to Shuntian, the easiest thing was to take the canal, but when the capital of the Ming Dynasty was in the southern capital, the canal was of little use, and many sections were blocked and deserted.

After the emperor moved the capital, there were often Japanese raids along the coast, so the sea was banned, and then it was found that the canal was still indispensable. In the past two years, I also wanted to spend money to dredge the river, but the construction of the Northern Capital Palace has consumed a lot of manpower and financial resources, and now I have to build a section of it.

But the silt will not sympathize with the problem of the imperial court having no silver, whether it should be blocked or blocked, so it is dug and blocked, and the canal has since become a bottomless pit of the Ming Dynasty's finances.

After resting all night, the clouds and the wind were also in good spirits, and when they saw their master come out, they snorted and gouged their front hooves, and they almost wagged their tails like Rifle.

"Huai'an to Xuzhou four hundred miles, to the north is Dongchang Mansion, Hejian Mansion, Baoding Mansion, in the past to Shuntian Mansion. If we don't change horses, we will only have four or five hundred miles a day, so that we will arrive in the capital in five days at the latest. ”

Yi Chengjin said, fed a handful of jelly beans to the horse, and suddenly remembered that he kicked Tao Qingyu's hand that night, and he didn't pay attention to them yesterday, is it all right?

"Four hundred miles is just right, we rushed to Xuzhou today for the night." Hu Yanjin patted Wuyun's neck, and Wuyun hurriedly swallowed the jelly beans he was chewing.

"Xiao Yi, you are in the Jingshi Criminal Department, aren't you only responsible for Beizhili? Why do you have to run out so often? ”

Yi Chengjin knew that when he returned to Shuntian Mansion this time, Hu Yanjin would definitely know his family history, and it was better for him to make it clear than to hear about it from other people's mouths. He didn't want to lose this friend he had just made.

He said seriously: "Because the right attendant of the Criminal Department is my father-in-law, my father-in-law will hand over all secret cases related to the royal family to me to handle. ”

"It turns out that Lord Wei is your father-in-law?" Hu Yanjin was really surprised.

"Yes, when I was a baby, I was sent to my father's house, and they raised me like my own parents. Unfortunately, my stepmother passed away when I was thirteen years old. ”

"My mother passed away the year I was born, and my father ...... Yes and no, there is a master who teaches me schoolwork and martial arts, but it is not as good as a child with a mother. Hu Yanjin said half-truths, he patted Yi Chengjin's shoulder and comforted: "At this point, you are better than me!" ”

At this time, the two unconsciously got closer again, got on the horse, greeted the rising sun, and trotted out of Xuzhou City all the way.

From Huai'an to Xuzhou, it is basically along the Yellow River upstream, and the official road is also easy to walk. The two of them chased after me, the whole journey was very smooth, they rested twice halfway, fed the horses and chatted, Yi Chengjin told some anecdotes about the old ministers who stayed behind in Yingtianfu, some of which Hu Yanjin knew, and more of which he didn't know.

"Do you know the case of Zhou Xin's unjust murder in the eleventh year of Yongle? I was only ten years old. ”

"Yes. Jin Yiwei commanded Ji Gang to falsely accuse him, but the emperor didn't even listen to his defense and beheaded him. "How could Hu Yanjin not know? He was eleven years old at the time, and he was standing in the crowd with his father, watching the head of Qingguan Zhou Xin fall to the ground. His father told him that Zhu Di was a tyrant and should not be an emperor at all.

"In the Duanyang Festival of the fourteenth year of Yongle, Ji Gang didn't shoot when he shot the willow, but he asked people to break the willow branches, pretending that he was shot, and the ministers present didn't dare to speak, and the emperor didn't see it on the spot. It's simply the Ming version of referring to the deer as the horse.

I was only thirteen years old at the time, and I was on the sidelines helping to pick up arrows and secretly maintain order. It was when I took advantage of the emperor's request to report the number of arrows that I deliberately presented the willow branch shot by Ji Gang to the emperor, and the emperor found out that Ji Gang was too powerful in the court and had murderous intentions against him. Two months later, someone accused Ji Gang of rebellion, and before he even had time to find evidence, the emperor killed him. ”

"It's really difficult for you, you dare to challenge the traitors of the DPRK and China at a young age."

"Humph! In addition to Zhou Xin, Xie Jin was also dragged to the snow by him after being drunk and frozen to death, although I am young, I know that in this world, only the person on the dragon chair can let this kind of scum, head to the ground! ”

Hu Yanjin couldn't help but be a little moved when he heard his words, Yi Chengjin grew up in Wei Mansion, and his father-in-law was a person who tended to be inflammatory, and saw the wind and steered, but the goodness of his heart was still so strong.

Yi Chengjin saw Hu Yanjin's gaze, his tone slowed down unconsciously, and said with a smile: "You don't have to worry about me, I'm enjoying it." They think that I rely on the name of my father-in-law, but in fact, the emperor often directly decrees to punish ministers, and in matters related to the emperor, the criminal department is basically hollowed out, and my father-in-law is just a butcher's knife in the emperor's hand. I was on my own. ”

Yi Chengjin spit out the grass stalk chewing in his mouth on the ground, stood up and patted the grass behind him and said, "Let's go, there is Luliang Mountain in front." ”

Before the two of them got on their horses, they suddenly saw a group of people running in front of them, and from their clothes, they were a group of untouchables who were not even as good as civilians. This group of men, women, and children, all panicked, as if they were chasing man-eating jackals behind.

Among the homeless people, there were a few young people, and when they saw the two brocade-clothed youths of Huyanjin from a distance, they began to shout: "They have horses, hurry up and rob their horses!" ”

Hearing their cries, Hu Yanjin and the others stood still, waiting for them to come forward.

Sure enough, four or five young men rushed towards them, Hu Yanjin didn't wait for them to get closer, raised his hand and a few stones flew out, five fell three, and the other two rushed towards Yi Chengjin. Yi Chengjin kicked one over, and the sword was on the neck of the other:

"Say, Who are you? Who's chasing you? ”

The man stammered, "We...... We were originally tenants in Luliang, but all the land we rented from farmers was taken over by the local officials...... We will starve to death if we don't have land, so we went to the county government to ask for explanations...... Who knows, a group of beggars came and deliberately made trouble among us, causing the government to send troops to hunt us down......"

"Beggars? Beggars are also untouchables, why should they help the officials who collect the land? As soon as Hu Yanjin heard it, he knew that someone had asked the beggars to make trouble, and the purpose was to find an excuse to kill these tenants who were looking for trouble.

"Second master, how do we know that you have a lot of adults, just treat the villain as a fart, let us go......"

Yi Chengjin withdrew his sword, and the tenants hurriedly ran away.

"In Yangzhou, it was Chen Xuan who was found by the Northern Beggars Gang for us, I didn't expect that there were such scum in the Northern Beggars Gang!" Yi Chengjin said indignantly. He thinks that this is all over the Yellow River, and it should be the territory of the Northern Beggars.

Hu Yanjin shook his head and said: "It may not be the Northern Beggars Gang, there will be the Northern Beggars Gang in Yangzhou City, can't there be the Southern Beggars Gang in Luliang City?" Hua Qiao was in the hands of a group of southern flower children at that time, and saved a northern flower child. ”

Taizu was born poor, and after becoming the emperor, he was also very tolerant of the beggars of the Ming Dynasty, and the beggar gang has always helped the court manage the homeless. But when he arrived at Emperor Yongle, he himself was not in the right position, so he didn't want to have anything to do with the beggars who were untouchables. The out-of-control beggar gang gradually divided into the southern beggar gang and the northern beggar gang, and their actions were very different.

The two waited for a while, but did not see the person who was chasing, so they rode towards Luliang County.