The early morning breeze was slightly cool.

The day after Ning Xiaochuan recovered from his injury, Ning He returned to Xiangzhou with his guards.

At the time of the handover of spring and summer, it was the season when Xiqiang and Beiban frequently harassed the south, and at this extraordinary time, Ning He, as the commander of the Ning family's army, had to rush back.

In the huge Ning Mansion, Ning Zhi and Ning Xiaochuan were left, but fortunately, news came from Qingzhou that Mrs. Ning and the third son, Ning Song, were about to leave to return to Yindu.

Ning Xiaochuan and Zhu Youjun walked on the street, knocking melon seeds and saying, "By the way, Da Hei, why haven't you seen Hu Shangyi and Wei Zhengchun these days, what are they doing?" ”

"Hu Shangyi, I've been busy helping his father deal with agricultural affairs these days, and when I went to Guozijian a few days ago, I heard that Guozijian was in the annual assessment, and Lao Wei was probably busy with this." Zhu Youjun said as he walked.

Ning Xiaochuan sighed helplessly, "So, the two of us are idlers?" ”

"Sort of, but I'm going to leave soon, I'll be eighteen in a few days, and my dad meant to let me go to the army for some training.

I didn't get a name for myself in this study, and I didn't get into the Imperial Army's Mansion, so maybe I can still have some success if I become a big soldier. Zhu Youjun said with emotion.

Ning Xiaochuan turned to look at Zhu Youjun, it is true, Zhu Youjun himself has a ruthlessness and fighting spirit, if he can join the army, it is also a good choice.

"So did your father want you to go? If you go to Xiangzhou to find my eldest brother, I can tell my eldest brother. ”

"Don't."

Zhu Youjun hurriedly shook his head, "You know, my dad has always said that I have no talent, so this time I decided to have a chance, I plan to go to the military department to sign up myself, and when I become a general, see what my father still says about me." ”

"Sign up for the army yourself? The designated is the most bitter big head soldier, the son of your dignified soldier squire, to be a big head soldier? Ning Xiaochuan looked at Zhu Youjun incredulously.

"What's this, I, Zhu Youjun, am not afraid of the ground, how can I be afraid to be a big-headed soldier?" Zhu Youjun said with a smile.

Ning Xiaochuan, who was born in a military family, of course knows how hard the soldiers at the bottom are, and they can be better in the Ning Family Army, Ning Zhi and Ning He both love soldiers like children.

If it were in other armies, it might be oppressed.

Ning Xiaochuan patted Zhu Youjun on the shoulder, "Since you are determined to do this, I will support you as a brother." ”

"Okay, let's not talk about this, let's go, drink, this wine, drink one less meal." Zhu Youjun pulled Ning Xiaochuan and walked towards Zhenbao Zhai.

Soon after Ning He left Yindu, Gao Lan, the king of Jingbei, also left Yindu, but before he left, he entered the palace to meet the emperor, and no one knew what he said.

Wu Daoxiong's incident came to an end, but there was an undercurrent surging in the seemingly stable palace.

The battle of the harem is inevitable for the royal families of all dynasties, whether it is the intrigue between the concubines or the love and hatred between the children of the royal family, which makes this palace full of treacherous atmosphere.

Gao Zhen, as Emperor Dafeng, has three sons under his knees, and the crown prince Gao Yuan was born to Concubine Qin.

The second prince Gao Ling, whose mother is the current queen's eldest grandson.

The third son, Gao Chang, is the orphan of the late queen, compared to the national teacher behind the prince, the Jiangnan clan behind the second prince, the third prince is a little shabby.

The crown prince and the second prince have always been at odds, and it is not a secret in the palace, one is the crown prince and the other is the son of the queen, both of whom are strong contenders for the future Dafeng monarch.

The two have been fighting openly and secretly for so many years, and they have been at a stalemate, until after everything that happened in Jiangbei Town half a month ago, their eyes turned to the protagonist at that time, Ning Xiaochuan.

At that time, Gao Zhen's words on the terrace that the five sons of the Ning family were all talented were inadvertently spread to the harem, which instantly attracted the attention of Gao Yuan and Gao Ling, and they each sent people to secretly investigate this gentleman.

……

The land of the East Palace, the residence of the prince.

At this time, Gao Yuan was sitting on the soft couch, with incense curling on the table in front of him, and the tea was clear.

He picked up the tea, drank a cup of tea, and breathed a long sigh of relief, in front of him, a white-bearded old man slowly opened his closed eyes, and said: "It's only been a long time since you couldn't hold your breath, and how can you compete with your second brother for the crown prince in the future." ”

"Grandpa, I don't understand much, no matter how Ning Xiaochuan looks at it, he looks like a gentleman, a year ago, he broke the arm of the only son of the household department Shangshu on the street, and a few days ago he broke the arm of the prince of Jingbei.

As for other princes and ministers and some rich children who have more or less grudges with him, why can the father still afford such a person? ”

The white-bearded old man in front of him is Gao Yuan's grandfather, Concubine Qin's father, and Qin Wanzuka, the great teacher of the country.

Qin Wanzun smiled faintly, "The Ning family is now the only one in Dafeng who holds military power except for the royal family, and the four sons of the Ning family have not clearly expressed their support for any of your three brothers until now.

Even if he Ning Xiaochuan is a gentleman, but if you stabilize this gentleman and see the big from the small, the second prince and the third prince will inevitably hate the Ning family.

When the time comes, won't the Ning family naturally support you, with the support of the Ning family, won't this position of emperor be captured? ”

"I see, grandfather, what you mean is that whether Ning Xiaochuan is a gentleman or not, I have to find a way to recruit him, because behind him is the Ning family, and what we want is not Ning Xiaochuan, but the Ning family." Gao Yuan suddenly realized.

"That's right, that's right, if the old man can think like this, the people around the second prince will also think like this, so the top priority is to find a way to recruit Ning Xiaochuan under his command." Qin Wanzuka continued.

Gao Yuan nodded thoughtfully, "Grandpa, in a few days it will be the Neutralization Festival, I want to hold a neutralization party, invite the students of Guozijian to come to the palace to drink, and then invite Ning Xiaochuan to come together, and then solicit it, what do you think?" ”

"Huh?"

Qin Wanzuka hesitated for a long time, "In this way, will it be a little too blatant, Your Majesty is the most disgusted by these, according to the old man, you might as well send someone to arrange it outside the palace, and when the time comes, it will be safer for you to hide your identity and enter the drinking party, and act at the opportunity." ”

"Grandpa is reasonable, it's a good way, okay, then I'll send someone to arrange it." Gao Yuan nodded and said.

Qin Wanzuka nodded, the students of Guozijian can be said to be the officials of the future Dafeng.

If the newly appointed emperor wants to sit on the throne, he must have his own set of teams, and Guozijian is the best place to cultivate his own power.

Of course, in order to avoid the harem dispute flooding the court, Gao Zhen was very opposed to the prince going to the Guozijian to buy people's hearts, for this reason, although the Guozijian is the best school in the world, but so far no prince has studied here.

……

in the Royal Palace.

Gao Zhen was reviewing the recital, Han Zhongxuan walked in and whispered a few words in Gao Zhen's ear.

After Gao Zhen heard this, his face changed suddenly, and he closed the chapter, "Go and check, who is the messenger, such a broken mouth, can't stay!" ”

"Yes!"

Han Zhongxuan arched his hand and said, "What about the prince? ”

"Since he has such thoughts, let him go, it's okay to have this heart, but I don't know if he has enough courage."

Gao Zhen said fearlessly: "Also, what happened to the things I asked you to arrange last time?" ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured, nothing goes wrong, it's just that the agricultural doctor Hu Tongxun doesn't get oil and salt, and the old slave is worried that something bad will happen when the time comes." Han Zhongxuan said in a low voice.

Gao Zhen frowned, "This Hu Tongxun is a character, a rare talent, but this time I want to see what his ability is." ”

"Yes, the old slave understands."

Han Zhongxuan retreated, Gao Zhen looked at his white hair in the bronze mirror, and couldn't help but sigh secretly.

……

As one of the most important festivals of the year, the streets of Yindu are also very lively, and a handful of ears of wheat are hung at the doorknobs of shops to pray for the blessing of the gods.

Agriculture is the foundation of a country, in order to worship the god of mang, pray for a bumper harvest of grain in the coming year, the people live in peace, on the first day of March every year, the people hang ears of wheat in front of their homes, give each other melons and fruits and Yichun wine, lively and extraordinary.

Over time, this became a tradition, which was named the Neutralization Festival by the Ministry of Rites, and has been passed down for hundreds of years.

On this day, Su Min and Su Su also began to decorate Ning Xiaochuan's yard, pinning ears of wheat in front of the door, and the yard was spotless.

Just yesterday, Su Min just came back from home, she was very happy, she saw that her father's condition had improved, and she began to thank Ning Xiaochuan again.

Originally, on the day she was taken away, her old father was disheartened and did not plan to live.

Fortunately, a family member came and stopped him, not only sent him to the house, but also gave him a sum of money, telling him that his daughter had been favored to stay in the house as a maid.

In this way, the suspicious old man returned home, and it was not until Su Min came home this time that he completely believed that their Su family had met a nobleman.

"Poetry and Wine Conference?"

Ning Xiaochuan looked at the invitation card that appeared inexplicably in his hand with some surprise, "Is this sure it's for me?" It's not for my third brother, and besides, the third brother isn't in the house......"

The family outside the door touched his head and was a little strange, "I also asked about this, the person said that it was for the fifth young master, and said that he hoped you must be there." ”

"Interesting."

Ning Xiaochuan shook his head helplessly, "What did the poetry and wine conference call me to do?" Going to smash the field? ”

He casually threw the invitation aside, in previous years, this kind of thing was done by his third brother Ning Song.

And those literati students looked at themselves with a look of contempt, and they couldn't wait to stay away, how could they invite themselves so strangely this time?

"Young master, today is the Neutralization Festival, it's not appropriate to refuse other people's kindness, since someone has invited, it's better for you to go."

Su Su walked in, and she heard Ning Xiaochuan's words just now, and she couldn't help but open her mouth to persuade her.

Ning Xiaochuan grabbed the invitation, and the corners of his mouth curled, "Okay, just go, I haven't been to those literati's poetry and wine conferences since I was so old, this time I went to open my eyes." ”

Ning Xiaochuan said this, but he already had thoughts in his heart.

A few days ago, Kong Zhenxuan and Nie Hongyi told him that someone was following, and at that time, Ning Xiaochuan guessed that it was very likely that Lei Kangshan was the ghost.

Now that this invitation suddenly appeared in front of him, it confirmed his guess even more, who would invite a gentleman to a good poetry and wine conference, there must be a conspiracy behind this.

But that's okay, as soon as the Wu family didn't have it, the clues of the man in black were broken.

This is good, and the clues were sent to the door by themselves, since this is the case, then Ning Xiaochuan wants to see what kind of Hongmen banquet this cocktail party is.