Chapter 015: The Yellow Sparrow is behind

Ningyuan Bofu is located in the Zhuque Street on the left side of Chaoyang Gate, the courtyard is relatively large, at first it was the house that Wanli rewarded Li Chengliang, and then it became the foothold of the Li family in Liaodong in the capital.

Looking at the white couplet on the gate, Chen Cao sighed a little, although the old man was a little cunning, but he was loyal to the Ming court, and now he was killed by gossip, and it was just a kind of liquidation carried out by the Donglin Party against these disobedient people.

A servant stepped forward and bowed his hand respectfully towards Chen Cao: "I don't know what this lord's surname has to do with my uncle?" ”

Chen Cao was dressed in a Jinyi Wei Qianhu Flying Fish suit, carrying an embroidered spring knife, and others could see at a glance that this person was the official of Jinyiwei: "I am tired and tired, so I said that Chen Cao, the Fusi of Nanjing Nanzhen, Jinyiwei, came to mourn General Li." ”

The servant was stunned for a moment, as if he knew Chen Cao, nodded and ran towards the house, just after a while, there was a noise, and he saw a woman with a long sword rushing out, a man chasing behind him, and many men and women chasing after him.

Zhao Xin and Xu Kai, who followed, shouted first, and the four or five brocade guards under their command pulled out embroidered spring knives one after another to block in front of Chen Cao.

"Splash thief...", still the familiar voice: "You bastard..."

The woman was Li Wan'er, and the young man behind him was his old acquaintance Li Shaokuan, and I saw him smiling in front of Li Wan'er, and smiled at Zhao Xin and the others: "Your Excellency has misunderstood, misunderstood, we are old friends with Lord Chen..."

Zhao Xin and Xu Kaixian both knew Li Shaokuan and Li Wan'er, but the situation was special just now, so he immediately put away his knife and said: "It turned out to be General Li, fortunately..."

The Li family is now in the capital, but they have suffered a lot of gossip, from the beginning of the cowardice to the final incompetence, all pointed the finger at Li Rubai, the official imperial history unanimously believes that Li Rubai's father and brother can't even keep up with a little fur.

To say that Li Rubai does not understand soldiers is an insult to him who was born in Jiangmen, but to say that he understands soldiers is to lower Li Chengliang and Li Rusong's understanding of the art of war, so Li Rubai's tepid can be said to be because his father and brother's halo is too strong.

"Brother Li..."Chen Cao pushed away Zhao Xin and the others, and arched his hand towards Li Shaokuan: "Chen is a step late, can you let me go in first to pay homage to Mr. Li?" ”

"Don't go..."Li Wan'er stared at Chen Cao with red eyes, and her tears couldn't stop flowing: "You bastard..."

"Little sister," Li Shaokuan was rarely angry, and immediately scolded Li Wan'er, and then stretched out his hand apologetically: "Brother Chen, please..."

Li Rubai's coffin was in the middle of the lobby, and there were many filial sons and daughters kneeling around, Chen Cao stepped forward, took the incense lit by Zhao Xin, and then knelt in front of the coffin, and said in a straight voice: "Uncle Li, the younger generation is late..."

This title is not right, in the face of the puzzled eyes of the people around him, Chen Cao took out an actor-level performance, squeezed out two lines of tears, and said slowly: "The junior should not let you come to the capital to offer prisoners, before coming to Beijing, the junior promised that Miss Li would come to Beijing to propose to you, and now..."

"Ahh

Seeing Chen Cao like this, the surrounding women and children shed tears one after another, and even Zhao Xin on the side was deeply touched.

The whole crying spirit lasted for half an hour, and in the end, even Li Shaokuan couldn't stand it anymore, so he asked Zhao Xin to help Chen Cao leave, as for the marriage with Li Wan'er, it has to be talked about later, after all, Li Rubai has only one daughter, and it stands to reason that he will keep filial piety for three years, and it is impossible to talk about marriage in these three years, but he can settle things first.

"My lord, you're crying too fake," Zhao Xin said with a smile.

"Fake?" When he went out, Chen Cao still had tears and snot flowing down, and when Zhao Xin asked him this, he suddenly changed back to his original appearance: "I am already very sincere, and I treat him as my own father-in-law." ”

Zhao Xin nodded: "The way you cry, it's like you owe you money and then you die." ”

"Really?" Chen Cao raised his eyebrows: "Zhao Xin, I have something for you to help me." ”

"Please show me."

"Put on filial piety clothes, go to Li's house to help me cry for a day, let me observe and observe..."

Zhao Xin: "..."

...

Two days later, the palace issued an order to posthumously crown Li Rubai as the Marquis of Ningyuan and the general of Zhendong, and give the burial of Emperor Shenzong to accompany the tomb, which is already the supreme glory of the Li family.

In the middle hall of Fusi in Beizhen, Luo Sigong squinted his eyes: "The cabinet discussed giving Li Rubai's daughter Li Wan'er a township monarch, and promoted Li Shaokuan from guerrilla to general, and ordered Li Ruzhen to be the chief military officer of Zhenliao to take over the defense of Shenyang. ”

Chen Cao listened carefully to Luo Sigong's words, because he knew that the big guy liked to disconnect and make people guess when he spoke, so he didn't dare to slack off in the slightest.

"Yuan Yingtai is now the Liaodong Economic Strategy, and I heard that after the death of Murhaqi, Nurhachi gathered troops to prepare for revenge, and the target was Shenyang."

Stopped talking, now it was Chen Cao's turn to guess, and Chen Cao, who didn't dare to make a mistake, arched his hand and said: "The ministers of the court are afraid that Li Rubai's death will scare them and make them betray the court, so it can be regarded as a precaution..."

Luo Sigong snorted, still expressionless: "You guy, you are clever, the cabinet advises, Your Majesty has agreed, let Li Shaokuan return to Shenyang to prepare for the war, and the new Tieling Township Monarch Li Wan'er will stay in Beijing, I see, there will be a big war in Liaodong this year." As he spoke, he opened his eyes and looked at Chen Cao and said: "The matter of the overseer still has to be Nanzhen Fusi, you work hard, and in the future, I will have to rely on you." ”

"Don't dare..."Chen Cao lowered his body and said: "Do your duty, please rest assured." ”

"Hmm... How's your doing? ”

Chen Cao had long expected that Luo Sigong would not summon him so easily, so he revisited the information collected a few months ago before coming, and then arched his hand: "Lord Hui, Lord Xu and Shouning Hou have frequent contacts, and I have found out that someone in Beijing came to Nanjing and met with the two of them separately, both in Nanjing's Jixinfang, the cabinet..."

"Anyway, it's safe here."

Hearing Luo Sigong say this, Chen Cao nodded: "Lord Ye, the first assistant of the cabinet, once sent someone to Nanjing Donglin Academy and talked with Shou Ning Hou for a long time, among which there is one other thing, Shou Ning Hou's clan is related to a murder case, some of which are implicated, and the humble position is being carefully investigated. ”

"Well, go on."

"Yes..."Chen Cao swallowed his saliva, and continued: "The people of the Zhejiang Party have secretly contacted Lord Xu. ”

Luo Sigong, who had closed his eyes and recuperated, opened his eyes violently, and after turning around a few times, he slowly sat up straight and asked, "Do you know who it is?" ”

"Former Cabinet Minister-sama from Tetsukata." Chen Cao said in a serious voice.

"Fang Congzhe..."Luo Sigong read his name again, then frowned, his face had frozen a lot: "You did a good job in this matter, you don't have to follow up on the rest, you still do what you did before." ”

Chen Cao was stunned for a moment, and then nodded: "Obey orders." ”

Before Chen Cao was about to leave Beijing, he met his old acquaintance ---- Li Xiang.

"Sir..."Li Xiang sat in the carriage, and the official lamp on it was written in five letters: "Sir, but you are going back to Nanjing?" ”

"Yo..."Chen Cao was also very happy to see the old man: "Miss Li," but suddenly remembered that Li Xiang had come to ask him when he left Nanjing, and then he couldn't help but be embarrassed: "Well, Chen is really busy with official business." ”

Li Xiang smiled contemptuously: "Yes, Mr. is very busy with official business, didn't he just take a concubine and then go to Beijing to make a kiss in front of the late Marquis Ning Yuan?" ”

Ahem...

Zhao Xin and the others tried their best to hold back their laughter, but they also held back their coughs.

Chen Cao sneered, then hugged his fists and said: "Miss Li, it was Chen who was wrong, but now even you know about Chen, go to Lord Li at this point in time, I'm afraid this time it will not be as simple as the Hongmen Banquet." ”

Li Xiang didn't know the meaning of Chen Cao's words, and he didn't pursue him, so he smiled and said: "Okay, it's a shame that you write a script, and your mouth is very good, I can't talk about you," the tone of the words changed: "I'm going back to Nanjing, let's get through?" ”

It's better to have a beautiful woman accompany you on the road than a group of old men who smell the smell of their feet together.

On the canal, the sunset is slanted, reflecting on Li Xiang's face, which further sets off her mature and feminine, which is Chen Cao's best so-called wife beauty in that life, but he can also see that he even feels like he is going to drool.

Li Xiang's eyes flickered, and when he saw Chen Cao looking at him stupidly, he covered his mouth and chuckled: "Son, you are a person who boasts both virtue and integrity, how can you have such an idiot?" ”

Chen Cao reined in his thoughts, stretched out his hand to wipe the halazi on the side of his mouth, and then said with a smile: "This official... No, it's rude, it's rude. ”

"The sunset is infinitely good, but it's just near dusk..."Li Xiang looked at the sunset on the horizon, and couldn't help but sigh, then turned his head and looked at Chen Cao tenderly: "Sir, do you have good poems to improvise?" ”

Li Xiang couldn't remember anyone's poem Chen Cao, but he knew that he must have memorized it when he was reading, and now looking at the slanting sun, Chen Cao opened the folding fan in his hand, and under the gaze of Li Xiang and a few maids, he said loudly: "The vast and sorrowful day is slanting, the whip points to the end of the world, the red is not a ruthless thing, and turning into spring mud is more protective of flowers..."

The last two lines of the poem Chen Cao read it when he watched Li Xiang read it, and he was a talented woman, and his cheeks suddenly turned red, as if the sunset was shining.

"Good poetry..."

The words came from elsewhere, Li Xiang and Chen Cao both turned their heads to look, two big boats on the canal were sent together, and there was a boat next to Chen Caozao's boat that was traveling side by side with them, and just now his own poetry happened to be listened to by the people on the boat next door.

It was a middle-aged man who spoke, and he hugged his fists towards Chen Cao and said: "My family praises this son's poetry for his high artistic conception, but I don't know the name of the son?" ”

Chen Cao was about to speak, but Li Xiang next to him continued: "Jinling Nalan Rongruo..."

Chen Cao took a closer look, the ship next door was indeed an official ship, and the banner it was carrying was the banner of the official department, the heavenly official of the Ming Dynasty...

Chen Cao's thoughts were soaring, and a white-bearded old man walked out of the boat, looking at Chen Cao with a smile and said, "It turned out to be Mr. Nalan, I saw you today, I will be lucky..."

Chen Cao hurriedly arched his hand at the other party and said, "Don't dare, don't dare, I don't know how to drive..."

"My lord is a Jinshi in the eleventh year of Wanli, and the current secretary Zhang Wenda..."

"It turned out to be Lord Zhang's face, and the juniors were rude..."Chen Cao said and saluted again.

"It turned out to be Uncle Zhang, how are you doing?" Li Xiang said to that side.

Zhang Wenda's eyes were not very good, and the sunset was slanting, and he looked at it carefully for a long time before he said: "On the other side, is it the daughter of Lord Li of Taifu Temple?" ”

The two official ships are resting on the shore in Texas, there is a post station in charge on the wharf, and the repair of the canteen is similar to the inn, and the people on both sides are gathered together at this moment, at this moment Chen Cao found that in addition to some officials in green robes, Zhang Wenda was accompanied by many brocade guards.

On his side, he didn't wear a flying fish suit, but Zhao Xin was wearing a flying fish suit, and when he looked at it twice, it turned out to be a passage.

Zhang Wenda only thought that Jinyiwei escorted Li Xiang back to Nanjing, and it was estimated that there was some official business behind him, and someone behind him mentioned that Jinyiwei, who had recently escorted Songjiangwei to command Lu Hua, had come to Beijing, and it was very likely that it was the group of people opposite.

"My niece has seen Uncle Zhang." Zhang Wenda sat down, and Li Xiang, who entered later, hurriedly went up and curtsied.

Li Maohui is a Jinshi in the eighth year of Wanli, three years earlier than Zhang Wenda, in the Ming officialdom, the most important place, even if Li Maohui is not a high official, but the qualifications are more than Zhang Wenda, not to mention that the two are out of the same school, the relationship between the two families is very good, Li Maohui can enter Beijing as an official, Zhang Wenda also made a lot of efforts behind the scenes.

There was Zhang Wenda's information flashing in his mind, but there were very few of them, Chen Cao only knew that this Zhang Wenda was a famous official in the Wanli to Tianqi Dynasty, and his name was that this old man did not form a party or engage in personal gain, he was a rare upright centrist, and he had a certain degree of academic strength.

Zhang Wenda smiled and nodded: "Why did you go south, does your father know?" ”

Li Xiang said with a smile: "Uncle don't worry, the family has some industries in Jinling, and my father uses it in Beijing, and I have to rely on these to support, my family is just one of my descendants, I can't cut off this business, otherwise my father can't even afford a house in Beijing." ”

"Yes," Zhang Wenda described as the most cunning and cunning, turned his head to look at Chen Cao, and then at Zhao Xin and others beside him, and said: "I just heard about Mr. Nalan's masterpiece, and then look at his person, it is not much different from the rumors in Beijing,"

The words were confused, and before Chen Jie answered, he only heard Zhang ask Dadao: "Are you afraid that it is Chen Cao, the official of Jinyi Wei's thousand households?" ”

Now that his identity has been recognized, Chen Cao didn't dare to pretend anymore, but the other party was a secretary of Shangshu, so he gave his hand: "The lower official has seen Lord Shangshu." ”

"Hmm..." Zhang Wenda looked Chen Cao up and down, first nodded with satisfaction, and then showed a serious expression, pointing to the brocade guards behind him and said: "These brocade guards behind this official are the people of your Beizhen Fusi, do you know where they go?" ”

Chen Cao arched his hand: "Please also ask Lord Shangshu to make it clear." ”

Zhang Wenda looked at Li Xiang, who was standing with Chen Cao, and couldn't help but shake his head: "A few days ago, someone received a report that Nanjing Jinyiwei was favoritism and fraud in a public case, and changed the prison without authorization. ”

Chen Cao was shocked, Zhang Wenda, the old fritter, is the secretary of the ministry, it stands to reason that he doesn't need to pay attention to Chen Cao, a small official of Jinyiwei in thousands of households, and Jinyiwei's image in the hearts of civil officials has always been bad, few civil officials will deal with Jinyiwei, but now he has said so many things to Chen Cao, I think there must be a reason: "The lower officials are stupid..."

The Jinyi guard, who was standing next to Zhang Wenda, stepped forward, bowed to Zhang Wenda, and then hugged his fists at Chen Cao and said: "Lord Chen, Zhang Wei, the counselor of the Fusi Experience Division of Beizhen, was ordered by the command to go to Nanjing to investigate the cause of this incident and the process of auditing. ”

"Since I met Lord Chen here, I simply asked my lord in front of Zhang Shangshu first, a few days ago, there was a report written in the hands of a supervisor of the Imperial History of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which said that Song Che, the general banner of the Soldiers and Horses Division of Nanjing Beicheng, killed Jiangning Xiucai Zhang Liang..."

Chen Cao's heart trembled when he heard this, Song Che's case was closed, how could there be a report letter, and it seemed that he was looking for himself directly.

I only heard Zhang Wei continue: "The report letter said that Chen Cao, then the official of Nanjing Jinyi Wei Qianhu, had a great relationship with Song Che, and had a private move to help Song Che settle the case. ”

Hiss...

Chen Cao's heart jumped violently, to put it bluntly, someone is fixing himself now, but thinking carefully about how he has never offended the powerful in Nanjing, who is it?

"Mr. Nalan," Zhang Wenda did not change his title: "What's the matter, do you have something on your mind?" ”

it...

was actually seen by Zhang Wenda, Chen Cao simply did not shy away from it, since Zhang Wenda will propose it here, then it can prove one thing, this old guy will not harm himself, and then hugged his fists and said: "Master Shangshu Mingjian, Song Che's case was decided by Tianfu, and he has never interfered with his humble duties, let alone joke about his future." Chen Cao suddenly recalled what Zhang Wei had said about the member of the Criminal Department just now, and then his head turned quickly, and he suddenly remembered something, and then apologized: "Please Lord Shangshu, which adult is the member of the Criminal Department who received the complaint?" ”

Zhang Wenda squinted his eyes and thought for a while: "It seems to be Gu Dazhang," and then turned his head to look at his housekeeper: "It's him, right?" ”

The housekeeper nodded, Chen Cao took a long breath, revealing a calm feeling, and then asked, "Does he have a son named Gu Linsheng?" ”

"You know him?" Zhang Wenda's eyes were a little bright, this old man seemed to know something.

"That's right..."

Chen Cao felt very comfortable now, at least he knew who the opponent was, and he was most afraid that the opponent would be ruthless in secret, otherwise he wouldn't even know how to find the starting point of the response.

Zhang Wei looked at Chen Cao's expression, and then said: "Lord Chen, there is an official document here, and the commander will announce it after he talks about Nanjing." Now that I have seen it here, I think that I am also a colleague in Weizhong, so I can inform Lord Chen first. I don't know what Lord Shangshu means. ”

Zhang Wenda snorted coldly and didn't speak, Zhang Weicai took out the volume of official documents and said: "The commander has an order, after arriving in Nanjing, temporarily suspend the position of Chen Cao, who is in charge of the punishment of thousands of households, and resume it after the truth of the matter is revealed. ”

Hiss...

At this time, Chen Cao panicked from the bottom of his heart.

Li Xiang saw it in his eyes, and more or less knew the cause of the matter, after all, it was aimed at Chen Cao, so he showed an anxious expression at the moment, then looked at Zhang Wenda, and said urgently: "Uncle, Chen Cao must have been wronged." ”

"Justice is at ease in the hearts of the people..."Zhang Wenda said, changing his expression, then stood up and said: "Okay, I heard that there are many scenic spots in the canals in Shandong, and it is rare for this official to have a good time in Jiangnan next time, and I have to take advantage of this time to have a good time, niece, are you willing to accompany the old man and me to play?" ”

Li Xiang was also panicking for Chen Cao at the moment, but seeing Zhang Wenda's confident appearance, he had to nod: "Everything depends on the uncle." ”

Zhang Wenda nodded, and turned his head to look at Zhang Wei: "Counselor Zhang, what about you?" ”

Zhang Wei put away the official document and said unusually modestly: "Xiaguan was ordered by the commander to escort Lord Shangshu south, naturally wherever Lord Shangshu went, Xiaguan followed." ”

"Hmm..."Zhang Wenda nodded with satisfaction.

Chen Cao was stunned for a moment, and when he saw Zhang Wenda looking at him with a smile on his face, he immediately understood in his heart, and then bowed to Zhang Wenda and said, "Thank you, Lord Shangshu, there are still some things to do in the lower officials, so I will leave, goodbye in Nanjing." ”

Out of the post station, Chen Cao hurriedly summoned Zhao Xin and a few people, and then said in a deep voice: "Prepare a fast horse, one person and two horses, and rush back to Nanjing within two days." ”

"Huh?" Zhao Xin couldn't believe his ears, how could it take seven days for Texas to go down at a normal speed from Nanjing, and returning to Nanjing in two days was like Chen Cao riding a horse for the first time and being forced by Liu Lei to Tianjin in five days: "My lord, I can't stand it like this." ”

"Hmph..."Chen Cao stared at Zhao Xin and sneered: "If you can't go back to Nanjing in two days, Lao Tzu will fall, let alone be promoted, and it is unknown whether you can keep your current position." ”

Zhao Xin saw that Chen Cao said so formally, and felt that Chen Cao was not joking, so he ordered someone to go to the post station to lead the horse: "My lord, what happened?" ”

"Let's talk about it when we go back..."

Two days later, Chen Cao and his party appeared in front of the county gate of Jiangning County on time, and one of the horses was so tired that it was foaming at the mouth and was thrown on the side of the road.

The wind blew his face to tears, and his lips were also broken because of the wind, and there were a lot of dried blood stains on them, but these were not big problems for Chen Cao.

"My lord, will you go in?" Zhao Xin said in a deep voice, on the way, Chen Cao had already told a few people what happened, and Zhao Xin was so angry that he wanted to kill someone.

"As long as Zhang Wen can't reach it, the order to detain me will not come, and the commander must have some misunderstanding to do this to me." Speaking of this, Chen Cao has a lot more good impression of Luo Sigong in his heart: "Now Lao Tzu is still in charge of punishing thousands of households, and no one dares to do anything to me." ”

"After entering the city, divide people to guard the four gates, and only enter and not go out in the name of Cha Wa."

"Yes..."

In the Jiangning County Ya, Chen Cao was investigating the file, and then packed it and took it away, and the county ordered the seven-grade officials to dare not do anything to Chen Cao, a thousand households in brocade clothes, and carefully met Chen Cao's requirements.