The group was led by Zhu Fenger to the post station, and she rode a horse to lead the way in front of her, walking side by side with Li Zhiyun. Zhu Feng'er glanced at Li Zhiyun and said, "King Chu, how old are you?" ”

"Sixteen."

"Wow, a year younger than me. I heard that you are very good at fighting, no worse than Li Shimin. ”

"Miss Zhu is overrated, how can I compare with the second brother?"

Zhu Feng'er talked very happily and said, "Is Chang'an City fun?" I heard that Chang'an City is very big and prosperous. ”

"Miss Zhu hasn't been to Chang'an?"

"Nope. I'd love to check it out, though. ”

"If Miss Zhu has the opportunity to go to Chang'an, this king will definitely accompany Miss Zhu to travel all over Chang'an City."

"Okay, let's make a decision!"

The two chatted all the way, and it didn't take long to come to the inn. Zhu Feng'er was very enthusiastic, and she didn't leave until Li Zhiyun and they were all settled. Thanks to her, many things are much easier.

Li Zhiyun sent Zhu Feng'er out of the gate of the post house, turned around and said to Zhang Zhengdao, who was following behind: "Although Zhu Cang is unbearable, his daughter is quite good!" Zhang Zhengdao: "She is very friendly to our Datang, I heard the envoy say that it was under her persuasion that Zhu Cang agreed to submit to the Datang." ”

"Oh? I see. ”

Everyone rested in the post house for a day, and the next day there was a ceremony for Zhu Cang to canonize King Wu. According to etiquette, the ceremony was presided over by Li Zhiyun, and Duan Qu read out the edict of canonization, but Duan Qu did not do it, saying that he would never work for the cannibalistic demon. Yesterday at the gate of the city, Duan Qu always kept a straight face, and there was no smile on his face, which showed his deep hatred for Zhu Cang.

Duan Qu used to be a doctor of imperial history, with a noble status, and he couldn't rub sand in his eyes, and Li Zhiyun couldn't force him, so he had to let Zhang Zheng do it for him. Among the people brought by Li Zhiyun, except for Duan Qu, there are several Zhang Zheng with the highest rank.

The next day, the canonization ceremony was held in the hall of the state government, Li Zhiyun sat on the head, Zhu Cang wore a crown on his head, and stood under the hall wearing a purple robe of nine pythons, Zhang Zhengli read the edict on one side, and then put the canonization edict into the tray next to the waiter, and handed it to Zhu Cang together with the seal. In this way, Zhu Cang became the king of Wu of the Tang Dynasty.

In December of the 11th year of the Great Cause (615 AD), he fled with the Sui army against the rebel army in Changbai Mountain (located in present-day Zouping County, Shandong) and gathered a crowd to revolt. Zhu Cang proclaimed himself the king of Garuda and had more than 100,000 people. He led his troops to plunder between the Han River and the Huai River, and the army moved irregularly, and every time he broke through a state and county, he moved again before he could eat up the grain accumulated in that state and county. When they left the prefecture and county, all the remaining materials in the prefecture and county were burned, and the lack of attention to agricultural production led to a severe famine, and the bones of the people who died of starvation were piled up, and there was a situation of cannibalism. Zhu Cang's army had nothing to plunder, and there was a shortage of food in the army, so Zhu Cang asked the soldiers to cook women and children to eat, and said to his subordinates: "There is no better food than human flesh, as long as there are people in other towns, why worry about starvation?" ”

In May of the first year of Wude (618 AD), Zhu Cang fought with Ma Yuangui, the consolation envoy of the southern Tang Dynasty, at the champion (now Deng County, Henan), and Zhu Cang's army was defeated. Later, Zhu Cang fought with Zhou Chao, the assassin of Xuanzhou in the Tang Dynasty, and was defeated again. In October of that year, the Tang Dynasty Dengzhou assassin Shi Lu Zizang and Ma Yuangui attacked Zhu Cang and defeated Zhu Cang. Lu Zizang suggested to Ma Yuangui: "Zhu Cang has just won the battle, and his subordinates are very timid, I ask that you join forces to attack him, and you can destroy him in one fell swoop." If we delay any longer, Zhu Cang's troops will gradually converge, their strength will increase and their food will run out, and they will fight with us, and it will definitely become a great disaster. Ma Yuangui did not listen to his advice. Lu Zizang asked his own troops to attack Zhu Cang, but Ma Yuangui did not agree.

Soon, Zhu Cang gathered the rest of the army, revitalized the army, and had 200,000 troops. He led the army to attack Dengzhou, and Lu Zizang beat his chest and said to Ma Yuangui: "Because of you, now you want the old man's life!" "After Zhu Cang captured Dengzhou, he besieged Nanyang. Due to the large number of enemy troops, Lu Zizang's cronies persuaded him to surrender, and Lu Zizang said: "How can any minister of the Son of Heaven surrender to the robbers?" "After the city of Nanyang was breached, Lu Zizang led his subordinates to rush to the enemy and died in battle. Later, Ma Yuangui also died in battle.

On October 25 of the same year, Zhu Cang invaded Xizhou, and the Tang Dynasty sent Taichangqing Zheng Yuanxuan to lead 10,000 infantry and cavalry to attack Zhu Cang. On December 11, Zheng Yuanxuan defeated Zhu Cang in Shangzhou, and Zhu Cang's military strength was slightly reduced.

The day after the ceremony, Zhu Fenger came to the post house to find Li Zhiyun, saying that she was entrusted by Yan Chuchu to invite Li Zhiyun and others to Yan Mansion as guests. Li Zhiyun respected Yan Chuchu very much and wanted to get to know him, so he agreed. He wanted to ask Shang Duan to go with him, but this old man ran out into the street early in the morning to drink, so he had to give up.

Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng, Cai Hu and Yinggu, and followed Zhu Feng'er to Yan's mansion on horseback, and Yan Chuchu was already waiting in front of the mansion. He invited Li Zhiyun and others into the hall, and after the guests sat down, the maid served fragrant tea, and invited the guests to tea with a smile.

Li Zhiyun took a sip of the teacup, then put down the teacup and said, "Mr. Yan, Ling Zun's name is like thunder, and the "Yan's Family Motto" he wrote has been widely circulated and has a far-reaching influence. ”

"Oh?" Yan Chu was surprised, "The King of Chu also knows about Jia Yan's clumsiness? ”

Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "This king knows a little bit about it. "Gan's Family Motto" expounds on the method of establishing oneself and governing the family, and some of its famous sentences are impressive, such as: accumulate tens of millions of wealth, and never study; Chaowen said, death can be carried out at night; From simplicity to luxury, from luxury to frugality, etc. "Gan's Family Motto" has a grand style and profound connotation, and it will surely be passed down through the ages. ”

Yan Chu heard this, smiled happily, and said: "If my father has a spirit in the sky, I will be deeply pleased to know that the king of Chu has such a high evaluation of the books he wrote!" ”

Li Zhiyun continued: "Mr. Yan, Ling Zun's godson is well-organized, and the Yan family will definitely have a long cultural context and talents!" ”

What he said was the truth, but in Yan Chuchu's ears, it became a compliment. However, who in the world doesn't like to hear good words? Yan Chuchu immediately felt that the distance between him and this King of Chu had narrowed a lot, and he talked more.

When Li Zhiyun and Yan Chuchu were chatting in the hall, Zhu Fenger went to the back hall. She went to find Mrs. Yan. Although they have known each other for less than half a year, Zhu Fenger and this Mrs. Yan have become best friends, and they like to come to her to chat when they have nothing to do.

Zhu Fenger walked into the inner room and saw Mrs. Yan sitting next to the desk tutoring the two children in reading. The two children, one is eight years old, a boy, and the other is a six-year-old, a girl.

Mrs. Yan is in her twenties, famous, dignified and beautiful, although she is dressed at home, she is also elegant and generous, and a flowery rhombic gown is covered outside the skirt, covering the moving curves of the slight bulge on her chest. Because of the very familiar relationship, when she saw Zhu Feng'er coming in, she didn't get up to give up her seat, but just smiled: "Feng'er is here?" Zhu Feng'er agreed, moved a bench and sat down next to her, watching the children read and write. Mrs. Yan looked at her and said, "Is the King of Chu of the Tang Dynasty here?" Zhu Feng'er nodded and said, "I'm here, I'm talking to Mr. Yan in the front hall." ”

After a pause, Mrs. Yan smiled and said, "It's also fortunate that you persuaded your father to submit to the Tang Dynasty, and he was on the right path." Zhu Feng'er sighed and said, "It looks pretty good now, but I'm afraid that he is not strong-willed and can't be consistent and completely get rid of his past bad habits." Mrs. Yan smiled: "Don't worry too much. As the saying goes, those who are close to the red are Zhu, and those who are close to the ink are black, since he has taken refuge in the Tang Dynasty, he must be benevolent in the future to benefit the people. ”

"I hope so." Zhu Feng'er said, bowed her head and said to the two children, "Xin'er, Yun'er, do you want to see the King of Chu from the Tang Dynasty?" The two children looked up at her and nodded.

"Alright, I'll take you there." Zhu Feng'er said, took one in one hand, and led the two children to the front hall, with Mrs. Yan following behind.

Zhu Feng'er led the two children to Li Zhiyun, pointed at him and said, "Xin'er, Yun'er, this is the King of Chu of the Tang Dynasty, call the King of Chu quickly." The two children shouted timidly. At this time, Mrs. Yan stepped forward to salute, and Li Zhiyun hurriedly got up to return the salute.

Li Zhiyun likes these two children very much. He didn't expect the Yan family to have such a young child, so he didn't prepare a gift, so he took off a piece of jade pendant and a jade pendant on his body as a meeting gift. Mr. Yan and Mrs. Yan hurriedly excused themselves, and Li Zhiyun said with a smile: "I like these two children very much, I have a relationship with them, so I should leave a souvenir!" Seeing Li Zhiyun's resolute attitude, the couple couldn't stop it anymore.

Li Zhiyun came to Jutan this time, in addition to presiding over Zhu Cang's king ceremony, he also needed labor troops. On this day, Zhu Cang accompanied him to the barracks. Li Zhiyun brought more than a dozen carriages of condolences this time, and he distributed them to the soldiers to reward them.

In order to express his gratitude, Zhu Cang held a banquet in his mansion that night to entertain Li Zhiyun and others. Li Zhiyun originally thought that Duan Qu would not go, but Duan Qu said: "Why don't you go if you have a drink?" I'll go! ”

The banquet was held in the Houhua Hall of Zhu Cang's mansion, with a total of five or six tables, in addition to Li Zhiyun, Duan Qu and their entourage, many of Zhu Can's generals also participated. Li Zhiyun, Duan Qu, Zhang Zheng, and Cai Hu sat at the main table, accompanied by Zhu Cang and his two cronies. At the beginning of the banquet, the atmosphere was not bad, the guests and hosts talked about the wine, talked and laughed, and the banquet was happy.

After a few drunken drinks, Duan Qu's face glowed red, and he talked more. He looked at Zhu Cang and said, "Zhu Cang, tonight's wine tastes good, but there is still a shortcoming. Zhu Cang saw that the other party did not call himself King Wu, but called him by his name, and he was a little unhappy, but he still politely said: "What does Deputy Envoy Duan have to say, but it doesn't hurt to talk about it." ”

"There is a lack of silk bamboo sheng songs," Duan Qu laughed, "There is no singing and dancing to accompany the feast, how can this wine be drunk happily?" ”