Bianjing City, Ningyuan Street, Ningyuan Marquis Mansion.

Outside the corner gate, the porter looked at a young man dressed in a Confucian shirt, a dragon and a phoenix, like a Zhilan jade tree, holding a famous post, not daring to slack off, and immediately bowed down and said: "Wait a minute, the villain will go to Tongyu!" ”

Changbai arched his hand and said, "Thank you!" ”

After a while, the little guy trotted out again, and bowed respectfully to Changbai: "Let the prince wait for a long time, the Hou Ye is invited, the son please go this way with the villain!" ”

The little guy led Gu Er all the way to the front hall, dressed in brocade clothes, with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, but the wrinkles on his face were already visible, looking at Gu Yankai, the Marquis of Ningyuan, who was much older than his father, was sitting on top of the first place, holding a tea cup.

"Little nephew Sheng Changbai, I've seen Master Hou!" Changbai claimed to be his son and nephew, not to have a relationship with Ning Yuan Hou Pan, but to show that the purpose of his coming this time was not for official business.

"You don't need to be so polite, just sit down!" Seeing Changbai, Gu Yankai's face showed a rare smile, although his son is not angry, but among the several friends he has made, one is more competitive than the other, and one is more prosperous than the other, and at the same time, Gu Yankai can't help but envy Sheng Hong, with Changbai such an excellent and competitive son, not to mention, even a talented person like Wang Zhong will soon become his son-in-law.

When Gu Er went to study at the Sheng family's school, Gu Yankai, as Gu Er's father, personally went to the Sheng family with gifts, and also met with Changbai, and also visited Zhuang Xuexue in person, and naturally also met with Changbai, but although there were gifts between the two families every New Year's Day, there were not many exchanges.

Like today, it is also the first time that Changbai has come to the Hou Mansion to pay a visit.

Changbai arched his hand and said: "I should have come to visit a long time ago, but I have been entangled in mundane affairs in recent days, so I am free, and I hope that Lord Hou will forgive me!" ”

Gu Yankai's attitude towards friends like Changbai's son is still very good, after all, it is not those fox friends who only know how to pull their sons to find flowers and ask willows all day long, and said with a smile: "Zecheng has just gotten married, and he has made up for the shortcomings, and it is inevitable to be busy, and I also came here like this when I was young!" ”

"By the way, how is Lingzun Lingtang's health recently? How is the old lady in the family? ”

Changbai said: "Lord Lao is worried, my father and mother are in good health, everything is fine, my grandmother took her sixth sister back to her hometown in Youyang in the early autumn, and she hasn't come back yet!" I wrote a letter, saying that I was comfortable staying in my hometown, and I was a little reluctant to go back to Bianjing. ”

After the two exchanged pleasantries, Changbai entered the theme.

"This visit, one of them is to take a look at Hou Ye for Zhong Huai, and by the way, report peace to Hou Ye!"

didn't want to listen to Changbai's words, but the smile on Gu Yankai's face disappeared in an instant, and with a little anger, he snorted heavily: "Hmph! The rebel still knows that there is a father like me! ”

If it weren't for Changbai's presence, I was afraid that Gu Yan would have slapped the table and smashed the cup.

Changbai said: "How can there be an overnight feud between father and son, in fact, Hou Ye's concern and love for Zhong Huai, Zhong Huai knows in his heart, when we eat and drink in private, Zhong Huai often proudly says to me and Zi Hou that among the peers of the entire Gu family, he is the only one who has been personally taught by Hou Ye and has obtained the true inheritance of Hou Ye's art of war and martial arts."

The beloved son of his parents has far-reaching plans, this - Hou Ye is so anxious about Zhong Huai's future, Zhong Huai doesn't know how, just as a son, it is inevitable that he longs to get some love and care from his father. ”

When Chang Bian spoke, he had been paying attention to Gu Yankai's expression, and seeing Gu Yankai's expression change, Changbai continued: "Zhong Huai also knows what Hou Ye expects of him, and he has made up his mind before leaving Beijing that he must do something, so that Hou Ye can see that he is not the unlearned and unskilled prodigal in the eyes of Hou Ye. ”

"If he really has this determination, don't just talk about it!" Although Gu Yankai was still stiff-mouthed, his eyes had already betrayed him.

Changbai continued while observing: "Now that Zhong Huai is in Quanzhou, he has been recommended by Zihou, temporarily taking the post of Quanzhou Soldiers and Horses Supervisor, leading the troops to the sea to exterminate the seven or eight groups of pirates with no small strength entrenched on the sea route, beheading more than 300 people, capturing more than 1,000 people, and making great achievements. ”

Gu Yankai was stunned for a moment when he heard this, before Gu Er left Bianjing, he didn't even greet him, he thought that Gu Er would go to the rivers and lakes, or go to Yangzhou to take care of the Bai family's industries, and mess around in the rivers and lakes, but he didn't expect that he went to Quanzhou and joined the army quietly.

"It's just a little pirate, and it can be said to be a war feat!" Gu Yankai said with a little disdain: "Quanzhou soldiers and horses are all supervisors, it sounds good, but the soldiers and horses in Quanzhou are just a group of archers and village warriors, not even the Xiang army, what combat power can they have, so they bully and bully a few pirates." ”

"Naturally, it can't be compared with Hou Ye, but for Zhong Huai, it is a good start, and now Chen Jun and Zihou, the governor of Quanzhou, have jointly written a letter to ask for credit for Zhong Huai! Just ······"

Changbai's voice changed, and said: "It's just that Quanzhou is as the Hou Ye said, Zhong Huai is a military general, if he stays in Quanzhou for a long time, he naturally has no future, so Zhong Huai asked Zihou early, wrote to the official's family, and recommended him to go to Lianghuai to quell the rebellion, but Zhong Huai had offended the official family because of his childhood words!" ”

"So you came to me because you wanted me to enter the palace to ask for an official and give that son a chance?" Gu Yankai looked at Changbai Dao.

Changbai said: "Hou Ye Mingjian! It's just that Zhong Huai didn't know about this matter, but it was Zihou's idea and me. ”

Gu Yankai looked at Changbai, looked at Changbai's frank and upright gaze, and couldn't help sighing: "That son of a son is really lucky to be able to make friends like you and Wang Zihou who have carefully planned for him." ”

Changbai said: "Zhong Huai has great ambitions in his chest, and Zihou and I have a relationship with Zhong Huai, also because of like-minded interests and admiration for Zhong Huai's character!" ”

Gu Yankai snorted again: "That rebel son does not hesitate to fall out with his family for the sake of a woman, what kind of character can he have." ”

Obviously, this Gu Hou Ye still has a grudge against Gu Er because of Zhu Manniang's falling out with him.

Changbai explained: "Although Zhong Huai is smart, he is younger after all, and he has less experience and insight, so he is naturally not as sharp-eyed as Hou Ye, and he is helpless to be blinded by others for a while. ”

"However, according to Zi Hou's letter, Zhong Huai has seen the true face of that woman, and he just thinks that Zhong Huai gave birth to a child, and he can't bear to kill him after all, so he just exiles her overseas, and never allows them to return to the Great Song Dynasty!"

Gu Yankai was stunned when he heard this, and looked at Changbai in disbelief: "Did that rebel really drive that woman away?" ”

Changbai took out the letter rewritten by Wang from his sleeve, "This is a letter written by Zihou, Zihou is a person who never believes in the river, and he will definitely not joke about this kind of thing." ”

Gu Yankai took the letter, swept it through the ten lines at a glance, and only then did he take a closer look when he saw Wang Chong mention Gu Er's recent situation in Quanzhou in his heart.

It's a pity that the length of a letter is not much, and it can't be said to be too detailed, Wang Chong just said that Gu Er saw Zhu Manniang's true face clearly, knew that she was not a good person, and her children were inevitably taught badly, so she was exiled overseas, and said that now Gu Er's children are all in Wang Chong's house, and Wang Chong's sister-in-law will take care of them and so on.

Finally, it was mentioned that Gu Er was going to Lianghuai to quell the rebellion, but for fear of another accident, Gu Er asked Changbai to go to the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion to see if he could ask Gu Hou to come forward and run for Gu Er.

After Gu Yankai read the letter, he sighed with a somewhat complicated expression, not knowing whether he was relieved or emotional.

After Changbai left, Xiao Qin's family who got the news hurried over with a gloomy face, and when he saw Gu Yankai, a surprised smile appeared on his face, and he asked impatiently: "I heard that the Sheng family Erlang brought the news of our family Tingye?" ”

Gu Yan said: "Erlang went to Quanzhou, and he also became the supervisor of soldiers and horses, and made meritorious contributions!" ”

Xiao Qin's eyes flashed unnaturally, but the smile of surprise on his face became brighter: "Is it? I'll just say, Erlang is a good boy, but he is young and ignorant, and now he has lost his way and returned to his hometown, and he has become an official and made meritorious contributions, which is a great joy. ”

As he spoke, he immediately turned around and greeted the grandmother beside him: "Come on, tell me to go down, let the kitchen cook more good food and dishes, prepare a few pots of good wine, and let's celebrate and celebrate!" ”

Gu Yankai's mood is also very good, although in front of Changbai just now, he seems to look down on the things that Gu Er did, but in fact, he is also very relieved, as the saying goes, the prodigal son does not change his money, and his own son finally did something serious, instead of only knowing how to look for flowers and willows and have fun all day long.

"It's just that the rebel offended the official family before!" Speaking of this, Gu Yankai couldn't help but sigh quietly in his heart, and glanced at Xiao Qin's with a somewhat complicated gaze, not knowing what he was thinking.

Gu Yankai hurriedly entered the palace to see the official's house, and when Gu Yankai left, the smile on Xiao Qin's face disappeared without a trace, and his eyes were slightly condensed, and there was a faint cold light flickering.

"This evil obstacle actually ran to Quanzhou and made a meritorious service!" Xiao Qin gritted his teeth.

The waiter next to him said to his mother: "We don't have any manpower in the south!" ”

Xiao Qin's face showed a grim look: "We don't have it, it doesn't mean that others don't have it." ”

In just a moment, countless figures flashed in Xiang's mother's mind, and suddenly a flash of inspiration flashed, and she asked with some uncertainty: "The eldest lady is talking about, who are the people of the Bai family?" ”

Xiao Qin said: "The Bai family's huge family business, the mountains and seas of silver, are now all owned by Gu Tingye, will the Bai family's group have no ideas?" ”

Xiang Mother said with some worry: "But the Bai family is just a salt merchant in the end, and now the Bai family's family business is in the hands of the second son, and the slave is afraid of ······."

"Those who dare to be salt merchants, a few of them are good at stubble!" Xiao Qin's Dao.

"If the crockpot does not break from the wellhead, the general will inevitably die in front of the battle, isn't he going to Lianghuai to quell the rebellion? On the battlefield, there are thousands of troops, even if there is a real accident, no one else can be blamed. ”

Xiang Mother's eyes lit up, as if she had seen the dawn, and a smile appeared on her face, complimenting: "What the eldest lady said is very true!" ”

Xiao Qin's cold voice sounded again, his face was as cruel as a poisonous snake, and his eyes were full of viciousness: "This matter must not be faked by others, let the one in your family go to Yangzhou in person!" Remember to bring extra money and don't be afraid to spend it. ”

"The old slave understands!" Mama Xiang was also a little excited.

Xiao Qin's face in the mirror was a little hideous, her eyes were a little trance for a while, she had been pretending to be kind for too long on weekdays, and sometimes even she couldn't tell which was her true face.

"For Saburo's sake, that evil obstacle must die!"

This thought resurfaced in his heart, and Xiao Qin's eyes widened, and his eyes became more and more determined.

If it was before, what she thought about was just trying to make Gu Tingye disgusted with Gu Yankai and the entire Gu family, and drive Gu Tingye out of the Gu family, it is best to remove her name from the family genealogy, so that her San Lang can inherit the Gu family's family business and inherit the title of Marquis of Ningyuan.

But now, as Gu Er left Bianjing and mingled outside, Xiao Qin's thoughts also changed.

As Gu Yankai's pillow person, how did Xiao Qin's family not know Gu Yankai's thoughts, clearly favoring Da Lang, and being fierce about Gu Er, but in fact, he had high hopes for him and loved him, but he didn't declare it, hating iron and not steel, if Gu Er really made Gu Er famous, then in the future, there will be a title in this Hou Mansion, where is there anything to do with her family Sanlang.

Xiao Qin's family has long been paranoid about the title of Marquis of Ningyuan, and even for this title, as early as when Gu Er's biological mother Bai first married in, he began to lay out, instilling in Gu Tingyu the concept that Bai was his mother's enemy, after Bai's death, she married into the Hou Mansion, and pretended to be a loving mother in front of outsiders, and planned painstakingly for more than 20 years, holding Gu Er above the Gu family brothers, how could Gu Er be allowed to take this title away from her family's three langs!

Gu Er, who was far away in Quanzhou, naturally didn't know that someone in Bianjing City was already worried about his life, and a killing game against him was about to begin.

In the palace, Emperor Jiayou looked at Gu Yankai, who was already showing his old state in front of him, and listened to his words of intercession for his son, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

"Hey!" Emperor Jiayou sighed, didn't answer directly, but asked, "How is your eldest man's health?" The condition can be improved! ”

Gu Yankai bowed and said respectfully: "Thank you Your Majesty for your concern, the dog's body is still the same, lying sick in bed all day long, the imperial doctor said that Da Lang's illness was brought from the mother's womb, and there is no cure!" ”

The eldest son has hated the second son since he was a child, Gu Yankai doesn't know how, but he just thinks of the love of the Qin family with the first son, as well as the weak body of the eldest son, and the ardent expectations for Gu Tingye, which is a lot biased.

Emperor Jiayou said: "I remember that your eldest son only has one daughter? ”

Gu Yankai arched his hand and said: "The imperial doctor said that the dog is too weak to have an heir, so he has only had one daughter for many years. ”

Emperor Jiayou looked at Gu Yan and said, "Gu Hou has to be forty-eight or forty-nine this year?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the minister has just passed his forty-ninth birthday!" Gu Yankai didn't expect Emperor Jiayou to even remember his age so clearly.

Emperor Jiayou said: "I don't want Qing to reach the age of knowing the destiny of heaven, since Qing has reached this age, I don't know if I can consider the heir of the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion in a hundred years?" ”

Gu Yankai didn't expect Emperor Jiayou to suddenly ask him this question, but he didn't panic, because Gu Yankai had already made up his mind: "The father dies and the son succeeds, and the brother dies and the brother dies. ”

Gu Yankai's eldest son has no son, only one daughter, and the woman naturally cannot inherit the title, and in the future, she will either inherit a child from among his brothers and inherit the title of Marquis of Ningyuan, or she will be the elder brother and let Gu Tingye be the Marquis of Ningyuan.

Although Gu Yankai didn't say it explicitly, listening to Gu Yankai's meaning, it seemed that there was a bit of meaning for Gu Tingye to inherit the title, thinking of Gu Er's previous reputation and his performance in Quanzhou, he thought a lot for a moment.

"I have already issued an order, let the military department reward meritorious deeds, and ask the Privy Council to transfer your Erlang to Lianghuai to quell the rebellion!"

Gu Yankai suddenly showed a smile on his face, and hurriedly lifted his robe and kowtowed to Emperor Jiayou to kneel and thank him: "Weichen thanked the saint for the dog!" ”

······

The reward from the Ministry of War and the order of the Privy Council had just been sent out of Tokyo, and an eight-hundred-mile urgent report was delivered to Tokyo.

For the rest of this year, Haozhou and other places were plagued by locusts, and the people had no harvest in their fields, and the local gentry took the opportunity to buy land from the people on a large scale, forcing the good people to become tenant farmers.

At that time, there were riots in several villages, and the leaders killed the local rich families, robbed the money and grain, and went up the mountain.

A group of thieves set off a rebellion in Dingyuan County, Haozhou, but a few days of effort, they captured Dingyuan, Dingyuan Zhixian fled to Haozhou for help, but the thief army was strong, did not wait for Haozhou to send troops, then occupied all the surrounding market towns, stationed troops and horses on the south bank of Haoshui.

Haozhou Zhizhou did not dare to advance, recruited the township Yong to refuse to defend the north bank, with Haoshui and Moye Mountain as the boundary, and confronted the anti-thieves, and at the same time sent people to notify the nearby states and counties to send troops, trapping the anti-thieves in Dingyuan, did not think that this group of anti-thieves had premeditated, and ambushed people and horses in the surrounding states and counties.

The commander of the Wuwei Army made Xie Bingde immediately lead the troops to the expedition, and went north to Haozhou, not wanting to just enter the Luzhou territory not long ago, he collided head-on with the anti-thieves, and fought several battles, the anti-thieves coerced the people, and the number was increasing, but fortunately, they were all rabble who had not been on the battlefield, and the weapons were also varied.

I never thought that this Xie Bingde was stupid, not to mention that he was stubborn and self-serving, and he had no ability, one night half a month ago, Xie Bingde, who was still asleep, was attacked by the anti-thieves at night, and before he could react, he was put on the neck by the anti-thieves.

Xie Bingde's defeat, directly let the morale of the anti-thieves greatly increased, countless green forest people rushed to work, just a few days of effort, the number of people soared to seventy or eighty thousand, the momentum is quite huge, the anti-thieves took advantage of the situation to send troops, attack the nearby prefectures and counties, the Jiangnan region has been peaceful for a long time, the city wall is damaged, most of the weapons in the treasury are also in disrepair, where can stop the anti-thief soldiers, plus the Huainan Road Wuwei Army This regular army has been broken, not to mention the township Yong of the states and counties.

The anti-thieves are getting stronger and stronger, and there are many green forests in Lianghuai, Jinghu, Sichuan and Guizhou and other places, and they have erected anti-flags to attack the prefectures and counties.

Emperor Jiayou was already upset about the matter of the prince, and now there is a rebellion, a wave of unsettled, wave after wave, the princes of the court are more and more anxious about the matter of the prince, and the prime minister Han Zhang is leading several important ministers to enter the palace in person every day to advise.

Fortunately, Emperor Jiayou is still there, and many years of light and meager endowment, so that the people below have a sense of belonging to the imperial court, except for those who have suffered disasters and really can't survive, those who have dreams of worshipping the marquis, and who have no choice but to be coerced by the anti-thieves, and can only be forced to be from the thieves, there are almost no people who take the initiative to run to the anti-thieves' sphere of influence.

The Sheng family, Sheng Hong and Changbai are also worried about the safety of Mrs. Sheng and Minglan who are far away in Youyang, after all, Haozhou is not too far from Youyang, and I don't know if this gang of thieves will hit Youyang.

But the father and son are both civil officials, although Changbai has practiced some martial arts with Wang Chong, but it is also mainly to strengthen the body, and not to kill the enemy, and Bianjing is thousands of miles away from Youyang, and their father and son want to help, but they can't reach it.

At the same time, Youyang, thousands of miles away, because of the trading all over the place, as well as the in-depth cooperation with the Cao Gang, although the news of the Sheng family is not as fast as the imperial court, it is not bad, and Haozhou is only separated from Youyang by a real state and a Chuzhou, which is really not too far.

With the defeat of the Wuwei army, the atmosphere on Youyang's side has gradually changed.

The yamen also put up notices to reassure people.

In the old house of the Sheng family in Youyang, Changwu has only been married for more than a month, and Sheng Wei was originally going to lead Changsong and Shulan to Quanzhou again, after all, the Jihai business in Quanzhou is now in the stage of rapid development, and you have to go over to stare at it in person, and Changsong will be the person in charge of the Jihai business in the future, so he will naturally follow him.

It's just that now that Mrs. Sheng and Minglan are in Youyang, Sheng Wei and Shulan naturally have no choice but to send Changsong and go back to Quanzhou first.

I never thought that it had only been so long before such a change occurred.

In the original plot, Gu Er joined the Wuwei Army early, and although the anti-thieves were powerful, the Wuwei Army won consecutive battles on the battlefield and gradually gained the upper hand.

But now Gu Er is still in Quanzhou, Xie Bingde is a fool who has no fart skills, he has buried thousands of people and horses of the Wuwei Army, and has obtained the armaments and supplies of the Wuwei Army, the strength of this gang of anti-thieves is much stronger than at this time in the original plot, especially in the last ten days, I heard that the anti-thieves have captured several county seats, and the momentum is getting bigger and bigger.

Now that the position of the prince has not been decided, the old lady is worried about the situation in Bianjing City, afraid that Sheng Hong will not be able to grasp it herself, so she has the idea of returning to Beijing.

"Uncle, although the thieves are only in Haozhou now, but those thieves who kill people and rob the road are everywhere, haven't you forgotten the group of water thieves that your uncle and Ming girl encountered when they came?" Now that the situation is chaotic and bandits are everywhere, Sheng Wei is worried about the safety of Mrs. Sheng and Minglan and does not want them to return to Beijing at this time.

Just when Mrs. Sheng was hesitating, Sheng Wei's mother suddenly fell ill.

(End of chapter)