The cold fog on the winter river has not yet dispersed, and a warship has left the Dongting Terracotta Division.

After Long Xiangtian and Chen Renhai returned to the Soldiers and Horses, everyone didn't ask where they went yesterday, Pan Gonggong only exchanged a few words with the two, and then took everyone to bid farewell to the soldiers of the Dongting Army, and then left the place where the Dongting Army was stationed.

The ship was moving on the waterway, and the cabin of this warship was divided into many rooms, except for the main cabin, where the two fathers-in-law Pan and Wei sat and the three commanders Duan Gan Weifeng, Guo Yu, and Wang Yu, as well as the three internal officials Zhou Xingyu, Zhang Peng, and Zhao Zicheng, the remaining commanders sat in the rest of the rooms. Pan Gong said fairly: "A few adults, the landscape of this Dongting is beautiful and moving, but you can't appreciate it carefully when you handle the case in the past few days, today we are waiting to take the opportunity to return to Beijing, the three commanders might as well invite the rest of the commanders out together, and we will go outside the cabin to see the beautiful scenery of the mountains and rivers?"

Wang Yu said: "Father-in-law Pan has Yaxing, but the rest of the brothers probably don't have this heart, they still need time to forget everything that happened in Dongting Mansion in the past few days." I am afraid that when they see this landscape, they will think of some past events that make them unhappy. ”

Pan Gong said fairly: "The old slave knows, you feel that the execution of the Hu gang leader has damaged the morality of the rivers and lakes that you obey, but there is no need to be unhappy about this matter to this day, right?"

Wang Yu said: "This is just one of the things......"

"That'...... The old slave just asked, in short, you and Gonggong Wei had shook hands yesterday and made peace, and the future ...... Hey, the old slave is serving the emperor by the emperor's side, and the commanders are doing things for the emperor by the emperor's side...... Hahaha...... Do not say...... Don't say it—" Pan Gong said.

Duan Gan came out of the cabin, looking at the mountains and islands that were getting farther and farther away, he knew Wang Yu's words, they regretted not only Hu Hao's death, but the shopkeeper's failure, but their defeat - this result they naturally knew that it would never be the emperor's sole idea, someone must have influenced his thoughts. That person is probably the one behind the investigation they have been in the palace for a month but no results have been obtained.

The boat remembered the music again, like the sound of suona but there was an ocarina sound, it was Li Defei blowing the leaves in the stern of the boat, and the agility of the sound was full of pathos, I don't know where he came from the leaves - at this time the leaves in the south have not all fallen on the trees, I think he picked them on those trees, or picked up next to other trees that have just fallen leaves.

The last time he played this tune was after the bloody fight in the palace, it seems that after returning from the case this time, his mood is the same as that time, and the last time was the lake in the palace garden, and this time it was Yunmeng Daze returning to Beijing; everything is so similar.

Long Xiangtian fell asleep on his stomach on the table in the room, and after hearing this music, he sat up straight and moved his muscles, he thought for a while, as if he remembered something. I saw him take out a piece of letter paper from his coat pocket, open the letter, and after looking around, he stared at the letter—the letter was given to them by the shopkeeper Yan last night. Before fighting them to the death, the shopkeeper Yan also handed a letter to Long Xiangtian, telling him that if they killed him, the letter must be kept secret and only for the eight commanders to read, and if he killed them, the letter would be burned to them.

Last night, Long Xiangtian's sword was very fast, faster than when he usually fought with people, and in less than fifty rounds, the shopkeeper Yan died under his sword - after being pierced by Long Xiangtian's sword, the shopkeeper Yan shook the sword out with enough internal force, and then fell into the water, Long Xiangtian did not catch her, looking at the water with only some waves.

The letter reads: All the commanders, the old body Yan Feng, a person from Yangzhou, and Yan Jingliang, the only son under his knees, are your great enemies. Said to be an only son, but not, the old man married a Yangzhou businessman at the age of 28, and had a son, but the husband's family was mean, and the old body did not bear the responsibility of her husband and the humiliation of her in-laws, so "Hugh Fu" returned to Jingxiang's mother's house to remarry and have a dog.

Although he is ugly, he can be led by heroes and nobles of the court, so the old man is willing to tell him. The trouble of the three gangs began with the lax supervision of the officials and the gangs of the rivers and lakes into business, and the collusion between the officials and businessmen. The old man opened a restaurant in Dongting Mansion to make a living, the dog was dull, and he was not good at the economic knowledge, but he was also diligent and down-to-earth, upright, and could inherit the family business to make a living. The daughter-in-law of the old body, who was married when the dog was weak, was also virtuous and kind, and honored her in-laws. The old family's family was happy, but it backfired, and the daughter-in-law of the old man was the daughter of the owner of the Iron Leopard Village of the Five Lakes and Three Gangs. The daughter-in-law didn't ask about the rivers and lakes, but her father-in-law died, and the two sons died early in the chaos of the rivers and lakes, and the daughter-in-law had no choice but to inherit the family business.

Since the daughter-in-law was involved in the Tiebaozhuang affair for more than three years, although the husband and wife are harmonious, the family road has changed; although the drunken fairy building is a restaurant, it has been involved in the rivers and lakes and officialdom. The daughter-in-law is difficult to keep, and she plays with the official dignitaries all day long, and the dog only follows the daughter-in-law and does not listen to the mother, committing the crime of harboring the black hands involved in the rivers and lakes for a long time.

Officials and businessmen colluded, covering the sky with one hand. Since then, Dongting shipping has been controlled by the Chamber of Commerce and the Xinggang, and protected by the government. The price of water transportation by ship has risen arbitrarily, and the official goods are only competing for the three gangs of chambers of commerce. Rampant to the extreme, there will be disaster, the corruption of the Southern Ministry of Rites, the imperial court thoroughly investigated, but the three gangs are quite powerful, and the scourge has not been eliminated.

Today, there are people in the big inner who have come here and show their might. The old people in Dongting, I am grateful to you for returning to Dongting Qingtian, and I hate you for harming the lives of my son and daughter-in-law. The son is the mother's heart, his father died early, and the old body was not strictly disciplined, so the dog was allowed to break into this catastrophe. The son is the mother's heart, the son is the tiger but also the mother, the daughter-in-law is evil but also filial piety, and now the two yin and yang are separated, the old body has no concern in the world, so I want to fight with you, if you get the revenge of the dog, you will go to the government to surrender; if you can't report, you will sleep with the child in the ground.

If there is a sky outside the sky, then although the Dongting can see the blue sky, the world is so big, and no other place has suffered from this?

Yan Feng paused.

After reading the letter, Long Xiangtian folded the letter, lit a fire, and burned the letter to ashes in an instant—for him, this letter was undoubtedly a mother's most helpless monologue, and I was afraid that she could no longer talk to anyone, so she had to write it on the letterhead. And she knew that no one would talk to her about the letter again.

Long Xiangtian thought of his mother, he seemed to be somewhat similar to the life experience of the shopkeeper Yan - his father was too vague for him, and he had no father for as long as he could remember. But his mother rarely came home, he knew that his mother was in the palace, but he couldn't go there. Whenever he waited for his mother, although his mother was tired, she was still as warm to him as ever, he was sensible earlier than ordinary people, he knew these things, but he also hid them in his heart.

Until he was eight years old, his mother never returned home. After a while, a eunuch in the palace took him to Fulong Temple, and from then on he understood that no matter what he did in the future, he was just a person.

The music stopped, and many people's minds returned to reality.

After walking by water for about three days, everyone arrived at the state and county on the north bank of the river, and the carriage took the official road overnight for nearly four days to arrive at the capital.

When the group arrived outside the palace, the guards of the Qinglongmen read out the holy decree, and everyone knelt down to receive the order - the holy decree said that Zhou Xingyu and other internal officials would return to their respective offices first, and then listen to the order to receive the reward; the inner officials first went to the Fazheng Hall to wait for the order, and then listened to the order to receive the reward; and the eight commanders of the Great Inner went to the middle of the Qinzheng Hall to face the holy return order and receive the reward in the hall.

In this way, everyone divided into several ways to enter the palace. At this time, noon has not yet arrived, the palace maids and eunuchs in the main roads of the palace come and go in a hurry, the front hall of the harem is like this, I heard that the case has been settled, and many people in the harem halls are talking about this matter - many people praise the great ability of the commanders of the inner house, and they won the first battle; of course, there are some gossips, but this is normal.

It was only said that the eight commanders of Ouchi led out of the Qinzheng Palace, and returned to the Moon Dragon Pavilion. Just now in the Qinzheng Palace, the emperor inquired about many details of the case, Pu Mu presented all the files, and Chen Renhai dictated the case from beginning to end. After reading the dossier and listening to what Chen Renhai said, the emperor nodded and praised again and again, and rewarded eight people with 1,000 taels of gold. After that, the emperor asked eight people to nominate the one with the greatest merit, and rewarded another 500 taels of gold. After everyone looked at each other and whispered a few words, everyone made a recommendation, among which Pu Mu was the most recommended, but Pu Mu said that Long Xiangtian made three meritorious contributions in a row, which should be a special reward. The emperor was overjoyed and felt that the eight of them got along well and would definitely benefit greatly in the future. After the emperor thought about it, he specially rewarded Pu Mu.

In addition to the awards, everyone also asked the emperor about the suspicions of the case before leaving, and asked the emperor why he did not continue to pursue the rest of the chamber of commerce. The emperor only said that he had decided after consulting with the cabinet ministers and after careful consideration. The emperor also said that if all the Dongting shipping merchants were disposed of, it would definitely increase the operation of the Dongting waterway. The gangs and the officials involved in the case were the most harmful in the government and the opposition, so they immediately executed these people to reassure the people.

In the Yuelong Pavilion, there was a eunuch who passed the lunch in the imperial dining room, saying that it was a banquet given by the emperor and let the eight people enjoy it together. At this time, the guards patrolling the palace had not yet returned to the Moon Dragon Pavilion, and the guards who came to change shifts had arrived. Everyone felt that it was a little inappropriate to have a banquet here, but the eunuch said that this was the emperor's intention, and everyone could only set up a banquet under the four dragon walls and eat.

During the luncheon, everyone ate quite happily, but many people had doubts in their hearts, could it be that the important ministers in the cabinet influenced the emperor's thoughts?

The eight of them still needed to be kept secret, so they just talked in whispers, and a few of them wanted to investigate, and the eight hit it off, and after the luncheon, the eight of them left as planned.

The first snow in the capital has just melted in winter, and it is cold after the snow, and the season of heavy snow has just passed. There was only one snow in the capital before the heavy snowfall this year, just a few days after they returned to the palace, which was a strange year. However, people like this kind of warm winter, and if it is the middle of a snowstorm at this time, I am afraid that in the following season, life will be difficult.

And at night, there was snow in the capital, Long Xiangtian, who was on duty in the Moon Dragon Pavilion, looked at the snowflakes floating outside the door, and remembered his childhood time - he was born not afraid of the cold, every winter day like this, when his mother went out, he would take off his jacket, every time his mother came back to see him like this, he would make the rattan beat him, but after the beating, he took his hand to dress, but his mother was surprised every time his hand was so cold, his head was a little hot, but he rarely had a fever.

The guards patrolling the palace came back, and when the chief guard Fan Yunbao saw Long Xiangtian watching the snow at the door, he didn't come forward to pay a visit, but only quietly let the guards enter the Moon Dragon Pavilion to hand over. Long Xiangtian came back to his senses at this time, followed the guards back to the Moon Dragon Pavilion, and explained the matter of the guards patrolling the palace in the winter night.

In the palace of the king of Dingnan, the small garden has been covered with snow, and on the square table in the small building, Chen Renhai and the king of Dingnan, the princess and Yan Yu each sit on one side.

"Commander Chen, you really live up to expectations, the case is thoroughly investigated, congratulations-" Dingnan Wang said.

"Thank you for the hospitality and praise of the prince, I haven't seen you for many days, the lower officials came to visit the prince, and the prince said something homely, the prince also knows, in this big interior, it is a little difficult to say something. Chen Renhai said.

King Dingnan smiled: "Your Jianghu Qi has indeed converged a lot, but this king also knows that Commander Chen's words are a moral trend." Hahaha...... Commander Chen is a brother who has taken this king as a close friend—"

Chen Renhai immediately bowed down and said, "Lord Wang...... How dare the lower officials be commensurate with the prince's brothers? Don't misunderstand—"

King Dingnan picked up Chen Renhai and said, "Haha...... Commander Chen and this king have a heart-to-heart relationship, this king is very happy, why do you misunderstand? But today, this king does have something to tell you, Ai Concubine, I want to come to this matter or you to talk about it......

Chen Renhai was at a loss for a while, he came to investigate the case today, but King Dingnan still had something to say to him, which made him a little puzzled. The princess said: "Commander Chen, this concubine still has one more thing to ask for...... the princess's words were a little slurred, and she seemed to be a little speechless.

Chen Renhai said with a smile: "If the princess has something, you might as well say it directly." ”

The princess said: "Commander Chen was also a person from the rivers and lakes, and he must be a straightforward person, so the concubine said it clearly. Concubine Ben wants to be a matchmaker with her sister. After that, the princess tightened her hand on the hand warmer in her hand and continued: "My sister is now the righteous daughter of her father, and she is old enough to get married, I want Commander Chen to make Commander Pu a matchmaker with my sister, I don't know what Commander Chen wants?"

Chen Renhai didn't reply directly, he was a little surprised and puzzled - although he knew that Yan Yu had feelings for Pu Mu, judging from what Yan Yu had done before, how could she tell the princess what she thought?

"Hahaha...... Miss Yan thinks she has taken a fancy to my Pu Mu brother - my brother is a handsome young man, both civil and military. Miss Yan's admiration is also commonplace. What does the prince think?" Chen Renhai said.

King Dingnan glanced at the princess and Yan Yu, who lowered his head, and said: "Since Miss Yan is already the sister of the king's concubine, this king naturally treats him as a relative, and Miss Yan is both talented and beautiful, saying that it is time to get married at this age." If I talk about the folk name, I am already his brother-in-law, how can I not care about the lifelong affairs of my relatives? Besides, Commander Pu has a bright future, a talented young man, and Miss Yan is a talented woman, I think this marriage is done. ”

Chen Renhai said: "Since the prince and princess have this intention, I will definitely ask Brother Pu, can I wait for an appointment to talk about this matter in detail?"

"Hmm...... Commander Pu has no father or mother, and Miss Yan has my father-in-law as her father-in-law;

"The prince is right, if this matchmaker wants to do it, we need to do it carefully, no matter what the end is, we need to do the etiquette. The princess said.

Chen Renhai said: "But Commander Pu is indeed alone, there are no elders, I heard that he was introduced by the master of Shaolin when he came to Beijing. Besides, Commander Pu was originally raised by the Shaolin monk You Fang when Luoyang, and later went to Shaolin to learn art, because he was unwilling to be ordained, so he did not learn Shaolin mastery, but over the years, he has also practiced martial arts to some levels, and even many masters in the 36th room of Shaolin are not as good as him. In this way, he was originally adrift, and he didn't have any elders, so we can't let the abbot of Shaolin talk to him as a matchmaker, right?"

The princess said: "By the way, it's me who is confused-Commander Pu is a hero recommended by Zuo Xiang, this matter can be said by Zuo Xiang——"

Chen Renhai understood that Zuo Xiang knew about Yan Yu, and if he asked Zuo Xiang to negotiate with his elders, it would probably be inappropriate, but King Dingnan said: "This king has forgotten, and Concubine Ai is right." This king will explain to Zuo Xiang, and Commander Chen should also talk to Commander Pu first and ask Commander Pu what he thinks. I'll wait until then—"

When the princess heard the words of Chen Renhai and King Dingnan, she smiled happily and said, "Thank you so much for the prince and Chen...... It's getting late at night, my sister and I went down first, and the prince and Commander Chen are chatting about some things in the court......"

After that, the princess and Yan Yu went out of Xiaozhu, put on leather jackets, and went out of the small garden with two maids, and returned to their respective rooms.

"Lord, this matter ......" Chen Renhai put what he was going to say to King Dingnan in advance, and wanted to ask the whole story of this matter first.

King Dingnan said: "Hey...... This king knows that Commander Chen cares about what Miss Yan did before, but Miss Yan has abandoned the secret and turned to the light for a long time, and she has suffered some difficulties for us to thoroughly investigate the affairs in the palace. Judging from these days, she gets along well with my family, and my father-in-law has regarded her as a righteous daughter, if I still look at people with the original eyes, I am afraid it is not appropriate, and this king thinks, these two people were originally children of the rivers and lakes, and I am afraid that their personalities will be similar, so this king agreed to the princess's request...... Oh, this matter was when Miss Yan and the princess were talking, the princess asked Miss Yan what she thought, and Miss Yan and the princess said it, so the princess came to ask the king what he thought. ”

Chen Renhai said: "I see, okay...... The lower officials will go to Commander Pu to clarify the matter for Miss Yan. ”

The snow fell so heavily that the first snow of winter in the capital melted during the day, and so many snowflakes fell tonight. The door of the Moon Dragon Pavilion opened, and Long Xiangtian returned to the attic with supper, and the guards who were patrolling the night had not yet returned. Pu Mu and the others were already talking in the council room.

Long Xiangtian went upstairs lightly, and the guards who had just returned to the pavilion from the palace fell asleep in the barracks. Several people in the chamber were also whispering.

"Brother Long, where did you go just now?" asked Guo Yu.

Long Xiangtian said: "I went to buy supper outside the palace, egg fried rice, do you want to eat it?"

"Brother Long, when you saw me go back to the attic, you said that you had something to go out, but you didn't think you went to buy a fried rice?"

"When it snows, I'm hungry fast, as I've been since I was a child, but I haven't eaten for years. "Long Xiang Heavenly Dao. With that, he brought a bowl of rice from the kitchen and ate it directly in the council chamber.

"By the way, can you find some clues? Long Xiangtian asked.

Pu Mu said: "I asked Zuo Xiang, what Zuo Xiang said, originally the prince of Dingnan and several scholars were inclined to let me wait to arrest all those people, but the emperor asked a few princes separately, and then the emperor had the idea of letting me wait to return to Beijing." ”

Long Xiangtian swallowed a mouthful of food and said, "How can the emperor be bewitched by a few princes?"

Bai Yang said: "I think it's the emperor's strategy, and I want to see the follow-up behavior of several princes." From this point of view, the emperor has not forgotten the assassination of the three princes' guards last time. ”

Pu Mu nodded and said, "As long as the emperor keeps this matter in his heart, we will have a chance to reveal the doubts in my heart." ”

The door was open while speaking, Chen Renhai entered the door, patted the snow on his shoulder, and went upstairs lightly. "Brother Pu, I have a happy event for you. ”