After Mu Yan finished reading it, he handed the excerpt to Cen Yin and said, "Do you know Feng Xiangzhong?" Mu Yan didn't have any impression of what Feng Xiangzhong was.

Cen Yin quickly finished reading the excerpt, his eyes were dark, and he said like a treasure: "Feng Xiangzhong, who was a jinshi in Longzhi for three years, has been released as an official since then, and has served in Yuzhou, Xiangzhou and Jinzhou, which can be regarded as rising step by step. ”

"This person has some ability, utilitarianism, three years ago, he was able to triple jump to get the position of Jinzhou prefect, also because he reported to Mu Jianming the previous Jinzhou political envoy Cheng Shiwei and Jinzhou prefect Liu Yu."

"Cheng Shiwei is also ridiculous, because General Yan went to the south, he actually stretched out his hand to Jinzhou Wei, and the civil and military colluded to increase taxes without authorization, so that the people were not able to make a living, and the mountain bandits were troubled."

"The evidence of the crime is conclusive, Cheng Shiwei and Liu Yu were removed and exiled, and Feng Xiangzhong made this Jinzhou prefect."

Cen Yin handed the fold back to Mu Yan again, and Mu Yan looked at the fold again, his eyes flashing.

To tell the truth, Feng Xiangzhong's excerpt is indeed reasonable from the perspective of a bystander, if it weren't for Mu Yan's own confidence in Xiao Tian, I'm afraid he would be suspicious.

Mu Yan's slender fingers rubbed twice on the edge of the fold, wondering in his heart: Is Feng Xiangzhong misled, or is he colluding with whom?

At this moment, the little chamberlain came in with a tray with several white porcelain flasks and a few side dishes.

The round table, which originally consisted of only four dishes and one soup, suddenly became much more abundant, and the aroma of wine overflowed.

Mu Yan made a gesture, and the two chamberlains in the room withdrew.

Mu Yan raised his head from the fold and said solemnly: "Big brother, you find someone to keep an eye on, you can't let anything happen to Xiao Tian." ”

Cen Yin glanced at Mu Yan with a complicated expression, as if he wanted to say something and stopped, but he didn't say anything after all.

Of course, Mu Yan could guess what Cen Yin was thinking, but he really couldn't say anything about this matter, this would be an eternal secret in his heart, and only he alone knew it.

Thinking of Duanmu Fei and thinking of Chu Qingci, Mu Yan raised his head and drank all the wine in the cup, his phoenix eyes were bright.

So, on the same day, a team of shadow guards was sent to Jinju.

At this moment, Xiao Tian, who is far away in Quxiang City, Jinzhou, is indeed a little nerve-wracking.

In October of last year, after Xiao Tian arrived in Jinzhou from the capital, he ordered 30,000 forbidden troops to camp and stand by, and he first went back to Taichu Village and met the brothers in the village.

Previously, when he was injured and hiding in Jianning Temple, he also handed a letter back to inform his brothers that he was not dead, but his letter was intercepted by Xu Dajian, so the news did not reach the village.

Later, Xiao Tian followed Mu Yan back to the capital, and at that time he was guarding against Mu Yan, so he never delivered a letter to Taichu Village.

When Xiao Tian returned to Taichu Village this time, the village was in chaos and split into two factions, and a group of people were picked up by Xu Dajian, thinking that Xiao Tian was dead, and he wanted to help Xu Dajian as the new owner of the village; The other group of people decided that they wanted to see people alive and corpses when they died, and refused to accept it, and the two factions quarreled so much that they were almost about to start.

After Xiao Tian went back, he immediately suppressed the situation, directly turned his face with Xu Dajian, and expelled all the people who threw themselves at Xu Dajian from Taichu Village. As for Xu Dajian, he was already weak-hearted, and he left with his henchmen if he said that he didn't want to do anything differently.

In just two days, Taichu Village was cleared, and nearly a third of the people in the village were missing, and the morale in the village was inevitably a little sluggish, after all, these people who left were also brothers who shared weal and woe with them.

After the situation of the stockade was initially decided, Xiao Tiancai told the brothers about the court's recruitment, including the conditions offered by the court.

First, the top and bottom of Taichuzhai are innocent; Second, the imperial court gave him 30,000 forbidden troops to help him pacify Jinzhou, and when Jinzhou was pacified, he would be rewarded for his meritorious deeds, and the brothers of Taichuzhai could also make meritorious contributions with their military achievements.

The court showed full sincerity, and the conditions offered were also exceptionally favorable, coupled with Xiao Tian's own prestige in the stockade, the atmosphere in the stockade that was depressed because of the division was quickly swept away, and the brothers were all excited.

Just like what Mu Yan once said to Xiao Tian, you can be a good citizen, who wants to be a bandit!

can make contributions, who wants to live a mediocre life!

Xiao Tian also deliberately chose this time to talk about Zhao'an, he just wanted to clear out all the people in the village who had two hearts, so that he could break his tail and survive.

The reason why Xu Dajian betrayed himself was because he wanted fame and fortune, and those who threw themselves at Xu Dajian also had this in mind, if Xiao Tian came back and talked about Zhao'an, these people would not take the initiative to leave, but would have to spend more time cleaning up the interior.

After that, Xiao Tian reintegrated the brothers of Taichu Village, and formed a 12,000 Taichu army, plus the 30,000 forbidden army and the fire battalion given by Mu Yan, which was like a tiger with wings, and Zhang Wenche, who claimed to be his uncle, gave him a lot of convenience on the side of the court. He was like a fish in water in Jinju, winning consecutive battles, and in just over three months, he recovered many towns from Jinjiazhai.

Originally, everything went well, but today, someone came to the door and said that there was an important matter about the survival of Taichuzhai to talk to him.

Therefore, Xiao Tian agreed to see him.

They made an appointment to meet in a teahouse in Quxiang City, Xiao Tian did not come alone, but also brought three cronies with him.

Two of the cronies followed Xiao Tian into a private seat at the end of the corridor on the second floor, while the other stood guard outside the private seat.

A middle-aged man in a straight blue shirt with a goatee was already waiting inside.

The two pro-scrutinizing eyes looked at the stranger in front of them, and the bearded one of them was unkind, and he straddled the scabbard with one hand, as if he would unceremoniously pull out the knife in the sheath if he did not agree with each other; The other man was in his thirties, with an elegant appearance, wearing a blue straight jacket, and from time to time pulling his beard, looking like a strategist.

"Lord Xiao, please be seated."

The middle-aged man in Tsing Yi looked at the three of them quietly, with a smile on the corner of his lips, and stretched out his hand to Xiao Tian to make a petition.

Xiao Tian and the blue-clothed strategist sat down, and the bearded beard stood aside with a knife, looking around vigilantly, tense all over.

"If there's anything, just say it." Xiao Tian crossed Erlang's legs and said casually.

The bearded beard said: "You, don't want to be alarmist! "What is related to the survival of Taichu Village, according to him, I am afraid that it is not a trick.

The middle-aged man in Tsing Yi took out a fold from his sleeve without changing his face, and handed it to Xiao Tian, "Please take a look at this first!" After reading it, adults naturally understand what they mean. ”

Xiao Tian immediately opened the fold, looked at the payment first, his eyes paused on the name "Feng Xiangzhong", and a middle-aged man in his forties vaguely appeared in his mind.

He was impatient to deal with those civil officials who went around and around, and it was basically Zhang Wenche who was in charge, and he only remembered that this Feng Xiangzhong should be the prefect of Jinju.

Xiao Tian shifted his gaze to the right, and then looked at the fold in his hand seriously.

He didn't read a few lines before he realized that this was Feng Xiangzhong's second excerpt to the new emperor. From the content of this excerpt, it can be inferred what was written in the previous excerpt, Feng Xiangzhong impeached the new emperor for secretly colluding with Nan Huairen, and said that he had found "evidence", so he was on this excerpt.

Xiao Tian's gaze froze on the word "evidence" for a moment, and his right eyebrow was slightly raised.

This excerpt says that it is "true."

After its reminder, Xiao Tian suddenly remembered this incident.

In the middle of this month, there was a person who came to Quxiangcheng to find him.

The other party claimed to be Shi Hu, the owner of a small cottage Shigangzhai attached to Jinjiazhai, and said that he would take refuge in Jinjiazhai because he was afraid of its obscenity, and for the lives of the five hundred people in the village, now he wants to abandon the darkness and join the Taichuzhai. As a sign of his sincerity, he also presented twenty boxes of weapons, one of which was a firecracker.

In addition, Shi Hu also revealed a piece of information, saying that Jinjiazhai had sent a large army to the area of Yongweicheng and Hongshan to meet the remnants of Jinjiazhai in these two places, so that Xiao Tian must be careful not to fall into the situation of being attacked by both sides of Jinjiazhai.

After Shi Hu left, Xiao Tian ordered the army to rest for a few days, not because he was afraid of Jinjiazhai's reinforcements, but because he was successful......

Xiao Tian's eyes flashed slightly, and he closed the fold casually.

In other words, seventy or eighty percent of the things written in this excerpt are true, but the details are a little subtle, is Feng Xiangzhong taking it for granted, or is he adding fuel to the fire?

In any case, at first glance, this excerpt seems to be written in a reasonable and reasonable manner. Xiao Tian felt that if he read it, he would also believe it for six or seven points.

The middle-aged man in Tsing Yi had been observing Xiao Tian's every move, and when he saw him move his eyebrows, he felt that his heart should be shaken, and the corners of his lips curled.

He pondered his words and said: "Lord Xiao, this excerpt is an excerpt from Feng Xiangzhong, the prefect of Jinzhou, to the emperor of the capital, and there is an official seal on it, it can't be fake, and the adults must be able to see it." This should be the second excerpt he gave to the emperor, and I think that the first excerpt to impeach you has already reached the emperor's hand. ”

As soon as he heard the "impeachment", his face suddenly turned even colder, and his sharp eyes were full of light, even if he didn't see what was written in this excerpt, he could guess that this was the case of the Jinju prefect secretly suing their boss. I'm afraid this complaint is not small!

The blue-clothed strategist also looked pale. The intrigue in the court has always been extremely complicated, and I don't know how many powerful ministers have died in the power struggle, not to mention, they are "bandits" after all, and they are congenitally inferior.

The temperature plummeted, and even the breeze outside the window seemed to be tinged with a chill.

The noise in the streets seemed to be near and far away.

There was a moment of silence in the elegant seat, and the middle-aged man in Tsing Yi continued: "Lord Xiao, think about it, if the emperor is not a suspicious adult, how can he make Feng Xiangzhong quietly stare at the adult. ”

"I'm afraid you don't know, right? Only with the permission of the emperor can the minister secretly fold him and go straight to heaven. ”

"This throughout the ages, but all emperors are suspicious, Taichuzhai has been thriving in recent years, and it dominates one side in Jinzhou, even the imperial court can't help Taichuzhai, so the emperor will recruit An Guizhai, on the one hand, he wants to use you, and on the other hand, he is afraid that you will sit big."

His words sounded heartfelt and sincere.

Xiao Tian casually played with the fold in his hand, without saying a word, as if he was pondering.

The bearded beard beside him endured and endured, but he still couldn't bear it anymore, and said in a rough voice: "Despicable and shameless!" Boss, this emperor is really a good calculus, insidious and cunning, and wants to squeeze the value of our Taichu Village dry! ”

"When we settle Jinju for him in the future, I'm afraid it's time for the cunning rabbit to die and the lackeys to cook!!"

"And this surnamed Feng is not a good thing! Boss, is he slandering and smearing us in this fold? ”

"We fought in front of us, they are good, they are all plotting against us behind our backs!"

The beard was so angry that smoke rose above his head, his voice became more and more high-pitched, his expression became more and more excited, and his dark and rough face turned red with anger.

The middle-aged man in Tsing Yi kept looking at Xiao Tian, feeling that Xiao Tian's silence was a kind of silent anger, and a touch of joy flashed in his eyes.

Xiao Tian suddenly raised his hand and made a gesture, and the bearded beard was immediately silenced.

Xiao Tian raised his eyes to look at the middle-aged man three steps away, and asked lightly, "You specially called me here just to say this?" His voice was neither light nor heavy, neither hurried nor slow, and he could not hear joy or anger.

The middle-aged man in Tsing Yi bowed to Xiao Tian and clenched his fists, and said: "My lord, Taichuzhai has a chivalrous style, high wind and bright festival, and the contemptible people have always admired Taichuzhai. ”

"The contemptible people really feel worthless for the adults and for the Taichu Village, the Tai Chu Zhai spilled his blood in Jinzhou, and quelled the chaos for the court and the people, but the emperor actually treated you like this, which is chilling!"

"It is rumored outside that the new emperor is wise and martial, and it is Zi Weixing who has descended to earth, unlike the arrogant and lascivious waste emperor in front, he speaks better than sings!"

"Hmph, it turns out that this new emperor is not a sinister villain! He is only now making a generous appearance because of the civil strife in Dasheng, and he may not know how to turn his face and not recognize people in the future! ”

The middle-aged man in Tsing Yi said indignantly, looking like "he is thinking about Taichu Village".

"Since this is the secret letter that Lord Feng sent to the capital, how did you know about it?" Xiao Tian said as he casually threw the fold on the table, and the fold hit the teacup slightly twice, and some tea splashed out, wetting the table and splashing the fold.

The middle-aged man in Tsing Yi maintained a posture of clenching his fists and said: "I can't hide it, the contemptible person is the envoy of the post station, so he has the opportunity to contact these official documents exchanged by the imperial court." ”

"The contemptible name is Ma Gongcheng, although he is not from Jinzhou, but he grew up here, over the years, I have seen the righteous deeds of Taichu Village, I only know that only Taichu Village is really for the good of Jinzhou and the people of Jinzhou!"

"I have admired Taichuzhai for a long time, and I have always wanted to join Taichuzhai, but I don't have a good opportunity."

The middle-aged man in Tsing Yi looked at Mu Yan sincerely, his eyes blazing.

Xiao Tian looked at the splashed fold on the table, lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, and said, "Ma Gongcheng, I accepted your vote." ”

Meaning, he agreed to take the horse into the work.

Ma Gongcheng raised his eyes to look at Xiao Tian excitedly, and said overjoyed: "Thank you for your willingness to give the villain this opportunity." The villain must do his best for the adults and for the Taichu Village, and then die! ”

"Smack!"

Xiao Tian clapped his hands twice and called, "Ling Bai." ”

A gray-clad young man with thin eyes, who was standing outside the seat, came in.

"Ling Bai, you take Ma Gongcheng to the camp of the stockade, 'get to know' the brothers!" Xiao Tian commanded.

Now the army under Xiao Tian's command is divided into three parts, one part is the 30,000 forbidden army and the fire battalion he brought from the capital, one part is that he took over the army of the original Jinzhou Guard, and the last part is the brothers from Taichu Village.

In addition to going to the battlefield on weekdays, the three groups of men and horses have their own camps with each other, and they have never interacted with each other, and the forbidden army, the guard army and the Thai early army are clearly distinguished.

"Yes, Boss." Ling Bai clenched his fists and held out his hand to Ma Gongcheng to make a petition.

The two of them left the elegant seat one after the other, only to hear the bearded beard who had been holding back for a while, and couldn't help but start scolding again: "Boss, this matter can't just be left like this!" Just let the court be a gunman, and it will inevitably be aggrieved! ”

The corners of Ma Gongcheng's lips curled, and he went down the stairs with Ling Bai's "kicking".

Naturally, he didn't see the blue-clothed strategist at the door of the throne glance at his back, and closed the door of the throne.

"Wang Er, that's enough." The blue-clothed strategist interrupted the chattering beard, then looked at Xiao Tian and asked, "Boss, what do you say?" ”

Xiao Tian opened the excerpt, didn't mind letting the two of them see the contents of the excerpt, and said firmly: "That's not Dasheng people." ”

This sentence was like a dry thunder on the ground, which made the elegant seat quiet.

Wang Er subconsciously looked at the closed door of the private seat and blurted out, "Boss, how do you know?" ”

He carefully recalled Ma Gongcheng's appearance, and felt that the other party was no different from Dasheng people in terms of appearance, expression, and tone, and he really couldn't figure out what was wrong with Ma Gongcheng.

Xiao Tian took out a bag of salt-and-pepper peanuts, ate them deliciously, threw them up casually, and caught them with his mouth.

"Click......"

Although he speaks standard official dialect and learns the tone quite standardly, the jerkiness between the words cannot be hidden. Also, there's the scent of him. Xiao Tian touched his nose and said, "The spices he used to smoke his clothes, and the spices he added to what he ate before he came here, are not Dasheng's spices......

Wang Er was dumbfounded when he heard this, "Boss, you can't even smell any spices, do you?" ”

You tell me? Xiao Tian glanced at him, and continued lightly: "He likes Nanhuai's spices so much, I'm afraid it's Nanhuai." ”

Wang Er and the blue-clothed strategist looked at each other, although they had long known that their boss had a dog's nose, but they didn't expect it to be so sensitive.

The blue-clothed strategist froze down, picked up the fold on the table, and looked at it carefully.

He pondered thoughtfully, his expression becoming more and more solemn, and he felt as if an interlocking conspiracy was pressing on them......

The air in the seat is slightly condensed.

Xiao Tian touched a peanut and chewed it again, and said vaguely: "Don't say anything else, the new emperor can still believe it." ”

Not to mention anything else, Xiao Tian thinks that he knows a little bit about Xiao Yan and Mu Yan, although the two of them act a little inexplicably, they are not narrow-minded people.

If he really wanted to coax himself at the beginning, Mu Yanda could directly use Taichuzhai to fight against the bandits, so as to weaken their strength, and after the pacification of Jinzhou, it would be much easier to consider annexation and the like.

To tell the truth, with the situation at that time, even if Mu Yan didn't give the 30,000 forbidden troops, for the sake of the brothers in Taichuzhai, for the sake of the old lady and Mrs. Tai of the Chu family, he would only respond to the matter of recruiting peace in the end.

At that time, he had no other way to go.

Xiao Tian took out a wine jug again, drank it slowly and leisurely, drank wine, ate peanuts, and was very comfortable.

The bearded bearded Hu of the rectum angrily clenched his fist on the window sill and said angrily: "These Nanhuai dogs are really hateful! They can't see that our Dasheng is stable, and they want us to keep Dasheng in civil strife!! ”

The Nanhuai man named Ma Gongcheng said so much, obviously he wanted to provoke the relationship between Taichuzhai and the imperial court, and did not want them to pacify Jinzhou.

His eyes were red with anger, and the blue tendons in the corners of his forehead were bursting out.

After the blue-clothed strategist looked at the excerpt twice, he raised his head and said to Xiao Tian with a complicated expression: "Boss, this excerpt is real!" ”

The bearded beard's eyes widened, and his face became even more ugly when he looked at the fold in the blue-clothed strategist's hand.

The blue-clothed strategist solemnly continued: "Since someone can stir up trouble in front of us, I think the other party will also go to the imperial court to sow discord...... At that time, I'm afraid it won't be a question of whether we believe the court or not. ”

Even if Xiao Tian is vigilant and does not have the responsibility of Shangnan Huairen, but the new emperor must have received the first excerpt, if the new emperor is suspicious of Xiao Tian because of this excerpt, then they will have a difficult time in Jinzhou in the future.

The blue-clothed strategist and the bearded beard both looked at Xiao Tian with solemn expressions.

There was a sense of oppression in the air.

Xiao Tian touched his nose carelessly and looked out the window, his eyes were deep and thoughtful.

Neither the blue-clad strategist nor the bearded beard argued with him, sighed, and looked out the window.

It has only been seven or eight days since Xiao Tian took over Quxiangcheng, and it has gradually regained its former popularity, and people are coming and going on the streets, and the faces of those people are full of light, and the expectations for the future are written in their eyes.

On the streets, the warm sun is softly sprinkled, the spring flowers are blooming, and another good season has begun.

The capital is also bright in spring.

On the first day of March, the whole family of Duanmu Mansion moved out of the old house on Quanyu Street and officially moved into the new mansion.

On the same day, in a burst of earth-shattering firecrackers, the plaque of Muguo Mansion was hung high, which also attracted many passers-by and neighbors who came to say goodbye.

Moving is a troublesome errand, before that, the house has been cleaned up for at least nearly a month, and some bits and pieces of sundries have long been moved to the new house, Rao is so, or busy from early in the morning until dark, everyone can barely breathe.