At noon, An Weixue really brought someone to pick up Song Nan to the banquet, and the group rode through the market and came to the intersection in the center of the city. I saw a high-rise building at the northeast corner of the intersection uplifted, obviously too much higher than the other buildings around, two thick red lacquer columns were erected at the gate, the lintel was hung with the huge gold signboard of "Helan Tower", but under the plaque was a row of red lanterns, and the candles were also lit in the daytime, which looked extremely festive.

However, the decoration of the typical Han shop pù at the entrance forms a sharp contrast with the top-notch roof, some people may say that this is the style of Hui and Han fusion, but Song Nan gave a four-character comment in his heart: nondescript.

In any case, the grandeur and tallness of this restaurant shows that it is really the best restaurant in the town, everyone galloped to the front of the building and dismounted, and a cadre of officials in front of the building was already waiting to greet them, the eunuch Li Zeng of the town army and Zhou Dong, the secretary of the Dali Temple, were all in the list, but there was no figure of the chief soldier Jiang Han in the crowd, but there were three more military attachés wearing armor.

After a period of greetings and introductions, Song Nan learned the identities of the three military attachés, the short and gloomy face is Zhou Ang, the commander of the Ningxia Zhongtun Guard, the other thin and dark-faced military attache is He Jin, the commander of the former Tun Guard of Ningxia Town, and the other indifferent military attache is Qiu Yue, the guerrilla general of Ningxia Town, who is also the commander of the Ningxia Houtun Guard, responsible for the defense of the southwest of Ningxia Town, and the army is guarding the Yuquan camp outside the city.

Li Zeng, the eunuch of the town army, said on behalf of Jiang Han: "After Jiang Zongbing visited the adults in the morning, he went to Shizuishan Pass to inspect the defense according to the plan, where there were traces of Tartars a few days ago, so he couldn't rush back, but he didn't deliberately hide from Song Houye. No, I specially ordered the three commanders of this town to accompany the adults to drink. ”

Song Nan said with a smile: "It's okay, it's okay, military affairs are important, General Jiang, as the general of the local army, naturally has to give priority to official business, I came here to receive the warm hospitality of you, and I am already very uneasy in my heart, how can I miss official business." ”

An Weixue said with a smile: "Hou Ye Song is a first-class empathetic person, gossip, let's go upstairs and sit down, today the owner of this restaurant is showing his skills and cooking himself, let's try his skills." ”

The officials laughed and left, the restaurant owner is also a huizi, standing at the foot of the stairs of the hall in vain and bending down to salute, welcoming all the adults to sit upstairs, everyone came to the second floor, near the southwest corner of the large private room neatly arranged, with a tall vertical screen and the outside of the entourage seat isolated, in a corner of the small square table there is also a bottle of branches diagonally with light yellow flowers of the plum, if there is no fragrance in the private room, the smell is refreshing.

When he sat down, he was humble, Song Nan insisted on not sitting in the top position, but forced Li Zeng to sit on the top position, Li Zeng tried his best to apologize, but he was very happy in his heart, this Song Hou still knows some rules. Zhongguan is directly sent by the inner court, even if this Song Marquis and Gonggong Liu fight back and forth, but at least in the heart, it is still vague in the inner court. In the end, Song Nan sat down next to An Weixue's main seat, next to Zhou Dong, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, which could be regarded as settling down.

As soon as the order was drunk, the hot dishes were served, and the local dishes were all packed on large plates, high as a hill, with a heroic style; The first plate is the local famous dish of Ningxia Town, hand-grabbed lamb chops, a hot lamb rib with a slightly fishy fragrance is placed on the plate, all of which are a few months old half-sized tender lamb ribs, and then accompanied by a secret sauce, the entrance is tender and fragrant, it is simply delicious in the world.

Then there is Song Nan's favorite Yellow River carp, the Yellow River carp here and Song Nan eat in the capital taste is different, the taste is more authentic, because this is the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the water quality is more unique, unlike the downstream water quality through many rivers into the loss of the characteristics of the sediment, eat the fish meat in addition to delicious, but also eat a faint earthy aroma, this is the authentic Yellow River carp.

Others, such as all kinds of halal cuisine, are mostly meaty, and beef and mutton are the main meat of the Hui people, Song Nan took a special look and paid attention to it, and sure enough, there was not even a piece of pork.

Most of the military attaches on the wine table did not have any special etiquette, and after the start, everyone shook off their cheeks and ate wildly for a round, and then picked up a small wine bowl under An Weixue's suggestion.

"Come on, come on, Marquis Song is a distinguished guest from the capital, and he is the mainstay of my Ming Dynasty, to be able to appear in my little Ningxia Town, it is the glory of the civil and military officials of Ningxia Town, and we will pay tribute to the Marquis of Song for a bowl of wine."

Everyone raised the bowl and stood up, Song Nan smiled and thanked him, put the wine bowl to his mouth and took a sip, and his brows furrowed, An Weixue smiled: "What does Master Hou think of this wine?" ”

Song Nan looked at several military attachés on the table looking at him with bowls, knowing that they were waiting to see their jokes, the strongest wine in the capital could not be compared with this, they must have thought that they would not be able to drink this bowl of wine, but Song Nan tasted it and tasted what kind of wine it was.

"Good wine, if I'm not mistaken, this is the famous Yili Qu bar, a good wine known for its strong and spicy taste."

Everyone on the seat was stunned, and An Weixue praised with his big fingers: "Can you taste this master?" This wine is only unique to the northwest, but there is not a drop in the capital, how do you know? ”

Song Nan smiled and said: "The Yili koji wine brewed by Gagandusi barley is the favorite of the soldiers and civilians in our border town, how can I not know? Let's tell you the truth, there is a concubine in the family who used to be a restaurant girl who sells wine, and I drank this wine in her small shop when I was in my hometown of Ulju, and I almost got drunk. ”

An Weixue laughed and said: "I see, Hou Ye is quite elegant, presumably this Zhuo Wenjun, who sells wine, is also a great beauty, well, it must be a pungent beauty, otherwise with Hou Ye's elegant temperament, how could she let you drink such wine?" I guess I want to find out the sincerity of adults. ”

An Weixue already had a mocking tone, this is not to treat himself as an outsider, and it was inconvenient for everyone in the audience to interject, only looking at Song Nan's face.

Song Nan smiled and said: "Lord An guessed half right, but my concubine is a prickly and pungent person, but the first time I drank this kind of wine, I asked for it myself, because I had just failed in the examination at that time, I had no way to make a living, and my future was bleak, so I wanted to use wine to drown my sorrows." ”

Everyone stared at each other, the Marquis of Song in front of him had such a time, although it was not a shameful thing to reveal that he was not the first in the imperial examination, but now he has the status of a marquis, and Song Nan, who is in charge of the world-famous Jinyi Wei Yamen and the Jingying Shenshu Camp, said these words, not only was he not ashamed, but he had a sense of inspiration.

"After that drunkenness, I made a decision, threw away the books at home, burned the paper and brushes, threw away the inkstone ink stick, and since then I have been throwing pen from Rong." Song Nan smiled.

"Hou Ye is really a great person, in our family's opinion, it is a good thing that he did not win the imperial examination, otherwise maybe there is one more useless civil official in the world, but there is one less brave Song Hou Ye, then the loss of my Ming Dynasty will be great." Li Zeng said sharply.

"Yes, yes, there is a hair for the imperial examination, could it be that the Tartars attack them with a brush and stick to poke them, and throw them with an inkstone?" The military attache at the table had a deep concern for Li Zeng's words, and agreed very much with Song Houye's decision to join Rong after the imperial examination was landed.

An Weixue's face was feverish, and everyone present was born in the imperial examination, and he and Zhou Dong were originally proud of the capital, but the civil officials in the Ming Dynasty looked down on the generals from the bones, and at this moment, this proud capital has become a stain that is ridiculed.

"Wrong, if Marquis Song won the imperial examination, he must have become the mainstay of my Ming Dynasty's outer court, and at this moment, I am afraid that he has already been listed in the cabinet and has become a figure on a par with Li Ge Lao and Yang Daxue, no, maybe higher than their achievements. Teach me to see, the chief examiner back then must have regretted that he was blind, and a talent like Song Houye actually gave a judgment to Songshan, which is really a big joke. An Weixue's words were ingenious, not only refuting the theory of the uselessness of reading, but also taking the opportunity to refute Li Zeng's accusations and scolding Huai, and even gave Song Nan a high hat.

Song Nan nodded and said with a smile: "Whether it is a civil official or a military general, an inner court or an outer court, everyone is only dedicated to serving the emperor, and it is enough to serve the prosperity of my Ming Dynasty, but there is no need to be so clear." Today, how about we wish the emperor good health with this bowl of wine? ”

Whoever dared to say a word, everyone got up and raised their glasses at the same time, and they listened to the sound of coo-dong, and poured a bowl of spirits into their stomachs; The generals on the seat can all drink, Li Zeng may have physical defects and compensated for the amount of alcohol, and he actually did it in one go, which made An Weixue and Zhou Dong bitter, the two bared their teeth for a long time, and then drank this bowl of wine like poison.

Putting down the bowl, Zhou Dong burped, his body began to shake, and he almost fell headlong, so he hurriedly drank a few sips of tea to suppress it; An Weixue's face was even more flushed, and his stomach was rolling, but fortunately, he was extremely strong in control, and he couldn't help himself from vomiting, and slowly sat down with a smile.

Song Nan himself was not happy, a bowl of spirits in his stomach, even if the amount of alcohol he exercised was not small, but the beef and mutton in his abdomen were very hot and the spirits interacted, his body was hot, and he was already sweating, and he looked up to see that several military attachés on the opposite side had begun to take off their cloaks, and Song Nan also hurriedly asked Wang Yong to take off the cloak for him, and drank a few sips of tea to suppress the wine.