The day after tomorrow is the annual Lantern Festival. Ren Tianci knew that the lantern festival in Yangzhou was very good-looking, and his skills were itchy and unbearable, and he wanted to go, but he was afraid that Ren Songyi would not allow it, so he encouraged everyone to go around in the house. In the end, the county lord also agreed to go, and the county lord accompanied everyone to see the lanterns, or wanted to see what this Juxian Villa and Longqiu Villa looked like. In addition to leaving Ren Songde and Yuan Ren in charge, everyone else came to Yangzhou together. Since he first went to Longqiu Village to visit the Qiu family father and son, and then went to Yihongxuan to visit Nangong Xiong and others, he found a big inn to live in.

In the evening, he set up a banquet in Tianyi Pavilion and invited the Qiu family father and son and Yi Hongxuan everyone. After eating, everyone went upstairs to the street. In Yangzhou City during the Lantern Festival, not only are there many more tourists than usual, but there are also a lot of military soldiers who are riding horses and carrying swords, which shows that this heroic and noble person is also a capable parent official. There are countless lantern fans on the street, miscellaneous, lanterns, and Kong Ming lanterns.

A large group of men and a large group of girls were wandering the streets with the flow of people. Guess a lot of light fans. Among the girls, the number of red embroidery guessed the most, and they took a lot of small objects in their hands, and gave them to everyone; Ren Tianqi also got a small cloth sachet, looking at the red embroidery fire-like eyes, Ren Tianqi felt an indescribable feeling in his heart, to be honest, Ren Tianqi liked the red embroidery sister from the bottom of his heart. Among the men, Ren Songyi and Wen Tingyu have gained a lot.

There was a monkey trickster in front, and everyone stepped forward to see it. I saw that in the middle of this scene, there was a thin man dressed in red, red, green and green, holding a gong and drum in his hand, and the mouth was constantly shouting, and the two little monkeys in front of him, wearing a small red cloth jacket, jumped forward and backward with the gong point, full of tricks, attracting onlookers to applaud continuously. Ren Tianqi was also very happy, looking for the county lord in the crowd. The county lord was surrounded by the women, and he was watching the monkeys perform in the field.

Ren Tianqi smiled, and was about to concentrate on the field, when he suddenly felt that the back placket was pulled, and he hurriedly looked back, but he was a small man, he didn't recognize it, and he was about to make a sound.

The man looked up and smiled, stretched out his hand, and in his hand was the piece of jade that Liu Chengmin had gifted.

Ren Tianqi was startled, and after a closer look, he saw that the person who came was He Zhixia, but she was dressed as a man, and she didn't recognize it for a while. Ren Tianqi saw that Miss He was thinner, Bai Zhe, and the fragrance on her body was smoky. Under Ren Tianqi's love, he was shocked, he didn't expect Miss He to be so bold and sudden, and the two were so lucky to meet, so they hurriedly raised their heads and looked at everyone. Except for Dongxue, Gong Ming found that Ren Tianqi's face was uneasy, and everyone else was attracted by the monkey performance in front of them.

Ren Tianqi's heart was a little calm, and he hurriedly stretched out his hand to grab Miss He's hand, looking at each other.

Miss He was so excited that she was about to speak.

Ren Tianqi shook his head and exclaimed angrily to the side.

Miss He understood, nodded, smiled, turned around and squeezed into the crowd and disappeared.

Ren Tianqi looked at the crowd, stunned.

Dongxue squeezed over and said, "What's the matter, master?"

Ren Tianqi shook his head, smiled, and turned around and squeezed towards the place where He Zhixia disappeared. Dongxue was inexplicable, and seemed to feel something was going on again, shook his head, and squeezed towards the county lord.

When he got up in the morning, Ren Tianqi secretly called the housekeeper Uncle Mingquan and Xiao Sangong Ming, and the three of them left the inn with a little makeup.

The three of them went to buy some gifts first, and then walked towards the Thorn Mansion.

In the early morning of late winter and early spring, the city of Yangzhou is exceptionally quiet, and the front of the Assassin's Mansion is even more cold and quiet, and it is rarely visited. Except for a ray of golden sunlight shining obliquely on the gate, showing traces of life and the joy of the new year, it was a few sergeants with guns and knives standing in front of the door, motionless, vigilantly watching the street in front of them.

A piece of peace.

Ren Tianqi couldn't help but think in his heart, yesterday was the Lantern Festival, Lord Ying is the lord of a state, there must be a lot of entertainment, I think I must have not gotten up at this moment, is it too early;

Ren Tianqi was hesitating.

Steward Ming saw the master's worries, and said with a smile: "The little one looks at Lord Ying's affinity and open-mindedness, but he is a rare good official." We came a little early, a little suddenly, but today it is the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the whole country is happy, the government and the people are happy, but it is a rare opportunity to come to visit, a rare leisure. ”

Ren Tianqi nodded, hurriedly turned over and dismounted, handed the horse to Gong Ming, and asked the junior two to wait behind, while he straightened his clothes, strode to the door of the Thorn Mansion, and saluted a few errands, and said with a smile: "Officials, hard work." Dare to ask who is on duty, please report it, and say that Guangling Ren Tianqi came to meet Lord Ying. Ren Tianqi said and handed over his visit post.

An official came up, took the post and opened it to take a look, looked up at Ren Tianqi, and was embarrassed: "Master Ren, it's really not the right time for you to come, what is it today, what is it yesterday? Lord Ying came back last night at the fourth watch; at this moment, it is only in the morning, and the adults should be sleeping soundly; not to mention that you have no name and no position, my family may not be willing to see you." It's a little embarrassing!"

Ren Tianqi did not indicate the name of the Xuzhou Zhaofu envoy in the post, he was a lowly person, smiled slightly, took out a silver ingot of fifty taels from his arms and handed it over, and said with a smile: "The official will go to report by himself, and your family will not only meet you, but maybe there will be a reward for you!"

It's the first time I've encountered this kind of thing, and I think I'll go in for you to report it today, and it's still unknown whether I'll be punished or not, and how dare I expect a reward, maybe this master is playing tricks on me. He thought about looking up and looking at Ren Tianqi again, and saw that Ren Tianqi was dignified and extraordinary; and then looked at the two people behind him, he could see that they were two followers, but they were also energetic and extraordinary; especially the three horses in front of him were rare military horses.

The errand man checked the silver in his hand, and said in his heart that this master is not bad, and the silver in his hand is enough for the brothers to have a good meal, and if they are scolded, they will be scolded, but they don't really want to be a distinguished guest, this is not a good thing if it is delayed.

The errand man hurriedly put away the silver and said with a smile: "This master, the little one is going to report back to our family, it's hard to say if we can't see you, so I'll wait here." ”

Ren Tianqi nodded and smiled.

The errand man turned to the others and said a few more words, then turned and went through the door.

After a long time of a pillar of incense, he still hasn't seen the errand come out, and Ren Tianqi is also nervous.

There was a sound of hurried footsteps, and two people ran out of the gate.

Ren Tianqi recognized that one was the errand who had just entered, and the other was Ying Guiquan's personal guard Golden Hook Duan Peng.

As soon as Duan Peng saw Ren Tianqi, he hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down to say goodbye, and said with a smile: "Mark Duan Peng to ask for peace for adults!"

The errand man was stunned and frightened and didn't dare to move.

Ren Tianqi hurriedly stepped forward to help Duan Peng up, and said with a smile: "Lord Duan is polite, please get up quickly." ”

Duan Peng said with a smile: "What kind of wind blew you here here, and you didn't say hello in advance when you came!" Duan Peng turned around and shouted to several sergeants on duty: "Open your eyes and see clearly, this is the newly appointed Xuzhou envoy, Lord Ren Tianqi." ”

A few errand boys fell to their knees and saw it.

Ren Tianqi pointed at the head and smiled at Duan Peng: "This brother has a flexible brain, fast legs and feet, and is a good seedling!"

Duan Peng nodded, snorted in his nose, reached into his arms, took out the ingot of silver and threw it over, and said, "Let's go drink some wine after we come down." ”

The errand man caught it happily and glanced at Ren Tianqi gratefully.

Steward Ming, Xiao San stepped forward to see Duan Peng.

The group walked inside.

Ren Tianqi said with a smile: "I'm afraid that I will miss the rare leisure of your family!"

Duan Peng smiled: "Your Excellency is polite. Our adults have no leisure all year round, and yesterday they were accustomed to patrolling the streets until the fourth watch. Please wait with me in my small study. ”

Ren Tianqi smiled: "How should you say this?"

Duan Peng said with a smile: "It's not that you don't know, our family has an inseparable friendship with Guizhai: in the past, he admired the old owner of Guizhai, and after coming to Yangzhou, he was an old friend with Tianhui. ”

Ren Tianqi smiled: "Then my Ren Jiabao is really flattered!"

The group came to the front of the first room.

Yinggui was greeted by a smile at the door early in the morning.

Ren Tianqi hurriedly stepped forward, picked up his clothes and knelt down, and said, "The junior Ren Tianqi has seen Uncle Ying. ”

Yinggui was stunned for a moment, hurriedly stepped forward to pick it up, and said with a smile: "The etiquette is heavy, the etiquette is heavy." How is this called me?"

Yingguiquan glanced at Duan Peng, hoping that Duan Peng could help relieve the siege.

Duan Peng stepped forward and said with a smile: "This is the first time that Lord Ren respects you, the first time in the New Year, to visit you as a nephew, it should be so, it should be so." But in the future, Ren Ye doesn't need to be so unfamiliar!"

Yingguiquan nodded and said with a smile: "That's it." Tianqi, please go inside, it's cold outside!"

This is a noble study, simple and elegant.

Steward Ming presents gifts.

Yingguiquan waved his hand for Duan Peng to accept it, and said, "Tell me to stay for dinner, and invite Lord Ren to have a casual meal at noon." ”

Duan Peng responded and turned away.

A maid had already come over to make tea.

Yingguiquan smiled and said, "Lord Ren, there must be something important to come here today." You and I have been old friends for many years, but please tell me something, don't be polite!"

Ren Tianqi smiled: "Your Excellency is polite. In the next is yesterday to Yangzhou to watch the lanterns. Since I came to Yangzhou, how to say that I should also come to the adult's house to walk, one to recognize the road, and then it will be more convenient;

Yingguiquan nodded.

Ren Tianqi said with a smile: "Master Meng introduced me, and was loved by the imperial court, and at a young age, he had to be appointed as a pacification envoy in Xuzhou, and he would command the troops outside." But I don't know about the whole army and the officials, and I came here today to ask the adults to teach me a trick or two, so as not to make any jokes in the future. ”

Yingguiquan shook his hand and said with a smile: "Lord Ren is humble, I think you are commanding tens of thousands of troops in the north, and you are the official to the post of general of the southern army, how can you say that you don't know anything?

Ren Tianqi shook his head and smiled: "My lord, you only know one thing but you don't know the other, you only know the scenery below, and you don't know the suffering in your heart!"

Yingguiquan smiled, took a sip of tea, and said, "Then the adults will come and listen." ”

Ren Tianqi nodded and said, "I fled to the north, and occasionally saved the prince of Zhengnan, so that he was appreciated by the prince and brought in the army." He also led his troops into battle, made small achievements, and was confident that he was quite talented in commanding troops. But do you know that the people who are in command are all elite divisions that have been trained by the Dajin Kingdom, and with the help of the old prince, they can barely be regarded as handy. It's just doing things with someone else's sword. But for now, you have to bring your own army below. First and foremost, it is necessary to have a well-trained army. But at the moment, I only have an army of 500 people, and I am still your old belonging. As the saying goes, it is difficult to start everything, as the saying goes, raising soldiers for a thousand years, using soldiers for a while, this recruitment, training, management, and command of troops is by no means a one-time achievement. My lord, you are my confidant of two generations of Renjiabao, although I have the help of my uncle, but the uncle has not led a soldier for many years, not to mention that the uncle has only served as a soldier in the army, and his literary talent is greater than his martial virtue, how can he compare with you, my lord! I only came to ask you, my lord!"

Yingguiquan nodded, what Ren Tianqi said was not unreasonable, looked up at Duan Peng, who had just come in, and said with a smile: "You go and arrange it first, and later I will go to the camp with Lord Ren to go around, and then transfer a thousand soldiers out to practice, Lord Ren is polite, saying that he is here to learn from the scriptures." ”

Duan Peng smiled and retreated.

Yingguiquan looked back and smiled: "I heard that you have suffered a lot in the past seven years and encountered many adventures?"

Ren Tianqi nodded, and then explained everything he had done in the past seven years, and he omitted the fact that the jade-faced Yama and the divine doctor Gu Yiping were the same person.

Yingguiquan was greatly appreciative, looked up and saw that it was not too early, got up and said with a smile: "Let's go, let's go to the camp first, and we will continue to talk on the road." ”

Yingguiquan took Ren Tianqi to the camp, watched the sergeant training, the barracks system, and the equipment, grain and grass storage, etc., and stayed until the sunset, and then returned to the mansion. Yingguiquan also fulfilled the responsibility of an elder.

After dinner, Yingguiquan invited Ren Tianqi to come to the study alone and dismissed everyone. I pressed a mechanism on the table again, and a secret door appeared in the study. Yinggui led the way into it with a lamp in his hand, and then turned around to cover the secret door.

Inside was Yingguiquan's bedroom, a hidden secret room.

Ren Tianqi was surprised, and he didn't know what Yinggui meant.

Yingguiquan lit the lights in the room first, invited Ren Tianqi to sit down, smiled, and said, "Tianqi, there are no outsiders here." If you have anything to do, just tell me. ”

Ren Tianqi smiled and didn't say anything.

Yingguiquan poured Ren Tianqi a cup of tea with a smile, and said with a smile: "You, although you are not good at words, you are thoughtful, and you also have a maturity and sophistication that is not similar to your age, maybe this is the harvest of your years of going out." As for me, as the lord of a state, I have already sent someone to check your details, and there have been official documents about you in the court. Basically, I know you pretty well. Besides, if anyone wants to come to the barracks to see me, I'm afraid that the purpose of your coming here is not here. Let's just say it directly, there is a knot that can't be solved, how can you say that you also called me uncle. ”

Ren Tianqi knelt down with a "plop", kowtowed three times in a row, and said: "Uncle Ying, the little one came here this time to ask you to return to the army on my behalf, and the little one really didn't dare to take this hot errand; ”

Yinggui didn't expect Ren Tianqi to come for this matter, so he hurriedly stretched out his hand to pick up Ren Tianqi, and said hurriedly: "Get up and say, what's the matter, how to say this great glory don't want it, how do you think about it." ”

Ren Tianqi repeated Qiu's analysis, and said: "The old prince has already expected that the imperial court may embarrass me sooner or later, and has left an ironclad army of 5,000 people at the mouth of the Huai River, ready to go south at any time to rescue me and wait out." ”

Yinggui said: "Who else knows when you come to me? Whose idea is this?"

Ren Tianqi said: "As far as the housekeeper and Gong Ming know, this kind of idea is known to the younger person, and the family does not know about it!"

As soon as Yinggui heard that the matter was important, he couldn't make up his mind for a while, so he got up and walked around the room.

Ren Tianqi looked at Ying Guiquan nervously, with an anxious expression, and said: "I'm even worried that the imperial court has the intention of letting you and me meet each other, after all, you and I are staggered, and they will disappear like fire and water for a long time!"

Yingguiquan turned around and said: "The king wants the minister to die, and the minister has to die, this is the loyal minister, but this is just a kind of foolish loyalty, which is not beneficial to the world and history! I am a Tianqi who has never advocated it! Have you ever thought about going to Dajin to command the army again?"

Ren Tianqi shook his head and said: "No, I never thought that I was going to help the Jurchens to fight my Han family, so after I resigned, I didn't dare to take refuge in Dajin, for fear that if I didn't use it, I would not tolerate it, and I would be killed!"

Yingguiquan nodded and said: "But if you don't have an official position in Yangzhou, I can't cover your big family of thousands of people! Don't you see that I haven't married yet, and I won't tell you that I have long had plans to kill myself and take righteousness from heaven!"

Ren Tianqi nodded and said, "Uncle Ying, you are wholeheartedly loyal, comparable to Yue Pengju in the previous dynasty, the lessons of the previous car, you must remember it!"

Yingguiquan nodded and said: "The court is weak, I understand this in my heart, so I am an official on one side, more diligent in civil affairs, and rarely have military achievements. The court can't count on it. Yingguiquan sighed and sat down.

Ren Tianqi nodded and said: "The small one has walked through a lot of places, but our Great Song Dynasty is a mess of scattered sand, and it can't become a climate;

Yingguiquan carefully interrogated the people, military and industry conditions of Dajin Kingdom, and sat there motionless, looking at Ren Tianqi in a daze.

Ren Tianqi didn't know what Yinggui Quan would think, and he didn't make a sound, his mind was constantly thinking about it, Ren Tianqi knew that Yinggui Quan was a clean official and an upright person, but he was not a person who knew that he was promising, whether he was a lackey of the imperial court, and his heart was not very clear, but Yinggui Quan felt that he was a person who could work together, but some words and some things could only be said by Yingguiquan's mouth.

After a long time, Yingguiquan suddenly smiled and said, "Tianqi, what is the biggest suffering in life, do you know?"

Ren Tianqi thought for a while and said, "Is it a misunderstanding, or is it wronged?"

Yingguiquan's eyes widened, nodded, and said, "Exactly, isn't your years of wronging a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding of the imperial court!"

Ren Tianqi nodded and said, "The little one understands that in fact, the saint is still virtuous, but it is difficult to say about the ministers around him." ”

Yingguiquan stared at Ren Tianqi's eyes, and said word by word: "Actually, you don't need to resign, you can also build a meritorious career!"

Ren Tianqi didn't understand and shook his head.

Yinggui said: "If you are given glory and wealth, and you are given the opportunity to benefit the people, will you still resign?"

Ren Tianqi said: "Uncle Ying, who doesn't want to be famous, I think." But everything has its pros and cons, there are gains and losses, so what is my price?"

Yingguiquan sighed and said: "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding of the people of the world, criticism and writing of the people of the world, infamy through the ages! Maybe there are also slanderous records that cannot be erased for thousands of years!"

Ren Tianqi said with a smile: "As long as you live with vigor and hope, you can have a clear conscience, and you can do something for the people, misunderstanding is nothing!"

Yinggui was all overjoyed, looked at Ren Tianqi for a long time, and said, "Will you break your oath today?

Ren Tianqi shook his head.

Yingguiquan picked up a brush on the table and said, "Tianqi, you have thought about it, if you can break this pen and swear to the sky, Uncle Ying has a feasible plan." Do you dare?"

Ren Tianqi took the pen, cut his hands in two, and swore to the heavens: "I, Ren Tianqi, swear to the heavens that I will never betray the country for glory in this life, and I will never regret it for the people of the world all my life." If anyone violates this oath, he will be damned by heaven, and he will not die well. ”

Yingguiquan laughed and whispered a few words in Ren Tianqi's ear.

Ren Tianqi shook his hand again and again, and said, "The small wish is supplemented, and Uncle Ying is the main one." ”

Yingguiquan smiled: "No, first, I am nearly one hundred and a half years old, and my energy is limited, and first, there are not many reliable people around me, and I am unable to move." Don't excuse yourself!"

Ren Tianqi nodded.

Yingguiquan picked up a pen and said: "And you take this, all important things, if you can't come in person, when you need to send someone to come, use this as evidence." ”

Ren Tianqi nodded.

Taking advantage of the dark night, Ren Tianqi and the three of them rushed back to the inn overnight. Yingguiquan found a reason for himself, and arrested the person who was on duty in the morning and sent him to another place to prevent future troubles.