Jiang Xiucai walked a few steps hunched over from the tavern. Say goodbye to a few good friends at the door of the tavern, and then bend slightly and walk in the direction of his own home. Jiang Xiucai's name is Jiang Bo, and the word is far-reaching. It can be regarded as an official eunuch, and his grandfather served as an adjutant of the provincial political envoy Yamen. Later, he was sent by the political envoy to be the same acquaintance of the Cold Spring Mansion, and was in charge of reviewing the official discipline of the Cold Spring Mansion. Originally, according to the ancient practice of Higashigaozhou, officials of a certain level were not allowed to serve as officials in their hometowns. But since the founding of Emperor Taizu of the Great Unification State, many of the original rules have been broken, and the grade of Teruma is not too high, and it was personally sent by the political envoy, so no one said anything.

Originally, this Tongzhi Teruma was also an official position with some real power, and it stands to reason that Jiang Xiucai, as the eldest grandson of Lord Teruma, should not worry about eating and drinking. However, Jiang Zhaomo was pedantic and had no foresight, so neither of his two sons was promoted by him to the Yamen on an errand, nor did he let his sons use their connections to make money in business like other officials. So after Master Jiang retired and stepped down, the life of the Jiang family was getting thinner and thinner, and the situation was getting worse. Later, the uncle and the second master passed away one after another, and by the time Jiang Xiucai, the third generation of the Jiang family, was already as embarrassed as a dog. The third generation of the Jiang family is a single generation, and Jiang Xiucai has a cousin in his uncle's family. Fortunately, his second uncle's son lives with Lao Zhaoma and does not worry about eating and drinking. However, Jiang Zhiyuanxiu is miserable, relying on making Western seats for people, and barely making a living by copying and writing outside. Fortunately, although he is a scholar, he has a chivalrous temperament, has the style of the ancients, and has a few good friends to help him, so he has been dealing with it for so many years.

Jiang Zhaomo, the old man, is very partial to the children in the second room, and when the two sons are there, he takes special care of the second master's family. But the Jiang family's uncle is not very popular. As early as when Jiang Xiu was just sensible and only three or two years old, Lao Zhaomo instilled in him, saying that you are the eldest grandson in the family, and you should be used as an adult. In the future, if you have younger brothers and sisters in the family, you have to take care of them more and so on, saying that it is better to suffer some losses for everything. Jiang Xiucai is loyal, but he has inherited a bit of straightforwardness from his grandfather, and he likes to talk about the merits of everything and be exhaustive. At that time, I had a doubt in my heart, why do I have to be an adult? Just because I was born as an eldest brother? Should I be unlucky and suffer when I am the boss? This is the rule set by which bastard. Is it possible that everyone in the world has to be a willing fool to be a big brother? So he always didn't approve of this sentence, and when he grew up a little, he saw that his old husband and father always suffered losses for the sake of humility, while the second uncle's family took advantage of it and sold it well. In his heart, the boss disagreed, and he looked down on Jiang Zhaomo's various unfairness at home. After the two brothers of the Jiang family separated, the uncle honestly opened a house close to the suburbs that Jiang Zhaomo bought. And the second master of the Jiang family stayed at home and did not leave, although he got the share of the family, he actually lived with the old man and took a lot of benefits. The eldest lady had a lot of complaints about this, but the Jiang family's uncle was short and embarrassed to say anything, so he acquiesced in the matter. After Uncle Jiang passed away, Jiang Xiucai stopped walking around with his grandfather. He didn't have much care from his grandfather, and he didn't bother to squeeze oil and water from the old man, so fortunately he was able to support himself. Originally, although he had a bad life, he could barely survive. But since five years ago, the third emperor of the Great Unification Kingdom, Xuanzong, passed away suddenly, and the current Son of Heaven, Emperor Quanshun, succeeded to the throne, his life has become more and more difficult.

Since the Great Unification State overthrew Emperor Taizu and established the world, although because Taizu did not produce, the country has gone downhill for a while. However, the subsequent generations of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xuanzong were still a little diligent, and gradually took care of the country a little bit on the right track. But there are unforeseen circumstances, five years ago, Emperor Xuanzong, who was in the prime of spring and autumn, suddenly felt a cold when he worshipped his ancestors in winter and feasted his ministers, and he couldn't afford to get sick. soon died, because the incident happened suddenly, and he didn't have time to make a will. His three sons were young, so the five powerful ministers in charge of the court secretly took charge of the appointment of Xuanzong's uncle and brother, a vassal king who had long been in the south to defend against the Baiguang Kingdom. After the new emperor ascended the throne, the year name was Quanshun, so the people were called Quanshun Emperor. This Emperor Quanshun should be the distant nephew of Emperor Taizu in terms of bloodline, but in private there are legends in the Great Unification Kingdom that his father is actually the illegitimate son of Taizu. It is said that his father and he did things in a very similar style to Emperor Taizu, but very different from Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xuanzong.

The reason why the five important ministers chose Emperor Quanshun was because he was far away from the border, rarely participated in the struggle for power in the national capital, and his political background was relatively innocent. At the same time, I haven't seen much of the world, so it should be easier to control. At the same time, the sixth son of Taizong, who had a relatively high prestige among the courtiers, Xuanzong's half-brother, King Ding, was excluded by them because of his strong and resolute determination. However, everything is planned in the people, and the success of the sky is in the sky, the vassal king who was originally named the king of Haizhou entered the national capital, and after taking charge of the artifact, the first thing he did was to unite the two major forces in the court that were dissatisfied with the five important ministers, and successively drove away the university scholar Xiang Chong and the left servant Zhao Ruixiang. Then he secretly ordered the Zhi Chong of the Ten Su Guards Forbidden Army to lead the troops to raid the Great Sima Hou Jin, and the Hou family was full of more than 300 people, all of whom were beheaded in the northern suburbs of Tianjing. The remaining two powerful ministers saw that the opportunity was not good, and Feng Shenghu, the governor of the Sixth Army, told the old man to resign;

Since then, Emperor Quanshun has no one to restrain him, and he has let go of his hands and feet to act at will. It's just that his actions are a little too casual, and everything in the court that he doesn't like, or that he thinks is alien, is all taken care of by him. And the means are not new, either greedy for ink, or collaborating with the enemy, and there are no two excuses. At the beginning, the people of the Great Unification State still felt that today was a vigorous and resolute figure, daring to move those high-ranking officials and dignitaries. Those up-and-comers in the officialdom also feel that this is a chance to kick out some old guys and give themselves a chance to be promoted. But after a long time, everyone felt that something was wrong. The state has confiscated so many corrupt officials, but it has not reduced the tax burden on the people. The officials who dealt with it went from Tianjing to the 23rd Road of other provinces and countless state capitals, but they never had the intention of stopping. After a long time, everyone was in danger and a little panicked.

The increasing state taxation and forced labor have caused the private sector to be sluggish. Jiang Xiucai, a person who barely survived, was the first to suffer, and his days began to rise and not get up. He has no income for more than half a year, and he can barely live on some savings left by his parents when they were reborn and the help of friends. Fortunately, at this time, his parents had passed away, and his wife Zheng had also died because of the plague the year before last, and there were not too many burdens in the family. But he still has a six-year-old son at home who needs to be supported, and Jiang Xiucai's back, which is already a little slightly hunched, is even more bent.

At noon today, he was sitting at home and worried, and his friends Li Quanzhe and Zhang Xinzi came to him to eat and drink. Li Quanzhe was an errand boy in the yamen of the house, and he was shrewd, with his hands and eyes reaching the sky. Because of the investigation of a murder case, I got the help of Jiang Xiucai, so I got to know him, and since then, the relationship has been irreversible, and I often help him. Zhang Xinzi is a cloth merchant, and Jiang Xiu is a classmate and friend, and he is anxious and righteous, and he is very righteous. He has contacts on both the public and private sides of Cold Spring Mansion, and he can be regarded as a character. Both of them are Jiang Xiucai's trusted friends. They knew that Jiang Xiucai was living a tight life now, so they often asked him for dinner and introduced him to teaching and other livelihoods.

Zhang Xinzi had just returned from doing business on Zhenning Road a few days ago, and he had a trip to Jingzhaotian Capital on the way back this time. He sent a batch of Wuwen cloth from Zhenning Road to the business there, and visited some of his father's old friends in the capital by the way. As soon as he came back, he bumped into Li Quanzhe, who was patrolling the street, and came to find Jiang Bo together. Jiang Bo settled his son Jiang Xiaofei to copy the scriptures at home, and went to Zuihongju with two friends. This restaurant is a time-honored brand in Hanquan Mansion, and it has been a famous restaurant in the city since the generation of Mrs. Jiang Xiucai, and it has been more than 100 years now. Hanquan Mansion is the place where the governance of Feichong Road is located, and the capital of the road can be seen in the degree of prosperity. There are countless large and small restaurants, and they can stand tall here, which shows the strength of Drunken Red House. The restaurant not only has exquisite dishes, but also the self-brewed rice wine, a little red, is even more famous. It is Zhang Xinzi's favorite of the things in the cup, so the Qingzi single room here is a fixed place for Zhang Xinzi to feast his friends. The three of them had drunk three rounds, and they were all a little drunk. The topic also changed from what Zhang Xinzi saw and heard on Zhenning Road this time to seeing new things in the Jingzhao area.

Zhang Xinzi put down the wine in the glass, glanced around with drunken eyes, and said in a low voice: "Guess what I saw in the capital this time?"

Jiang Bone squinted his eyes and asked, "What do you see?"

Li Quanzhe waved his hand and said: "Love to say it or not, God is mysterious!"

Zhang Xinzi blushed, burped, and said, "When I entered Beijing, I met an envoy from Fanbang from Hongyao Kingdom. ”

Jiang Bo was stunned for a moment, and said: "Hong Yaoguo, since the Taizong period beat them in the first battle of Shimen Mountain, haven't they always been cowering at home and dare not make a mistake? What are you jumping on this time? Aren't you afraid of the Flying Fish Army on the border? That Zhendong General Xu Anbang is not a vegetarian figure. ”

Zhang Xinzi said: "I scanned it, and it was said that the new monarch of Hongyao Kingdom ascended to the pole this year, and he sent an envoy to deliver the credentials and invite the current saint to meet in Shimen Mountain. ”