The moment he walked into the railing, Shen Shuren felt a little unreal.

"I didn't expect that when I came to the Ming Dynasty, I first entered the entertainment venues. It was because of this coincidence that human calculations were not as good as God's calculations. In the future, I had to leave more room for later use."

After reflecting on this, Chen Shuren finally adjusted and, by the way, he came to know some scholars who were gathering together under the introduction of his cousin.

Chen Shuren's cousin is also considered the number one person, named Zhang Huangyan, named Cangshui, a native of Ningbo Prefecture. He is a little distant relative to Chen Shuren's late mother Zhang. So when Chen Shuren introduced to Zheng Hongkui just now, he reported "Zhang Cangshui".

The relationship between Zhang Huangyan and the Shen family is actually quite far away. In terms of closeness and alienation, it is said that it is impossible to get much resources from the Shen family.

However, Chen Tingyang was a kind person and liked to support the poor. He saw that his deceased wife's distant nephew was literary and martial, and had great talent. He not only studied well but also rode and archery, but also had much support over the years.

Zhang Huangyan is two years older than Chen Shuren, just twenty years older, and he also has the reputation of scholars.

This year, he is the year of the provincial examination. He should go to Nanjing for the exam, so he went to Suzhou's uncle a few months in advance. While waiting for the boat in Taicang, he also found his own yard to hold a meeting and made friends with other boat-waiting scholars.

In history, Zhang Huangyan was also famous in history. In the second year of Yongli, when Chen Tingyang was defeated and died in his country, Zhang Huangyan and another general Zhang Mingzhen were both in Shen Tingyang's army. But they relied on disguising and disguising as ordinary soldiers and successfully broke through and saved their lives. Of course, their breakthrough was not entirely for survival, and they still insisted on leading the troops to fight against the Qing Dynasty.

Zhang Huangyan persisted for another seventeen years after Shen Tingyang's death. He persisted until even Zheng Chenggong died of illness. Only then did he realize that the situation was hopeless and did not want his subordinates to die in vain and disband the remaining troops. But he himself insisted on not surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, but lived in seclusion on overseas islands. He was finally captured by the Qing army and would rather die than surrender and be killed.

...

Thinking that his distant cheap cousin would be considered the No. 1 national hero in the future, Chen Shuren quickly adapted after his initial unfamiliarity.

Zhang Huangyan didn't know what plans his uncle and cousin had. He just got the request of the Shen Mansion manager for a while and asked him to help him hold his cousin and Zheng Hongkui for a while.

Fortunately, he was also a clever person, so he didn't ask much, and soon he started chatting and laughing with Zheng Hongkui, greatly reducing the pressure on Chen Shuren to socialize.

Especially Zhang Huangyan has some martial arts skills. When chatting with military officers like Zheng Hongkui, he does not act like a literati, which makes Zheng Hongkui feel a little aware of his encounter.

Seeing that everything was controllable, Chen Shuren finally relaxed. Then, out of curiosity of entering the railing for the first time, he was soon attracted by the Kunqu opera on the stage and enjoyed it with interest.

The brothels in the late Ming Dynasty were divided into different levels. Those who sing private operas closed were larger in scale and had flesh and blood transactions. This kind of venue that opened the doors and held church meetings for literati was more like a theater in later generations.

However, there was no "selling tickets and watching operas" in the Ming Dynasty. In this kind of church, one must first have a benefactor who is willing to pay the money to book the venue and save the game. Then he will make friends with literature and let others take advantage of the opera.

Those who play the show are not completely useless. They will pay some money to reward those who sing, but they don’t force them.

A gentleman speaks righteousness but not profit, but selling tickets is vulgar.

Today is the venue for Zhang Huangyan, so they are all in the second floor, while those who are free to play are in the lobby downstairs.

At this moment, several sisters downstairs were singing hard. They looked average and their singing style was quite graceful. It can be seen that the show was not of high quality.

Chen Shuren listened for a while and heard a black joke that seemed to be singing Yan Song, the late treacherous minister of this dynasty.

This drama is actually famous, called "The Legend of the Phoenix". It was created by Wang Shizhen, a local literati of Taicang in the early years of Wanli, so it was performed a lot in the local area.

Especially today's serious collection of literati, which is not suitable for singing erotic lyrics and erotic songs, they prefer to choose dramas that criticize the government.

Unfortunately, Chen Shuren is not well-educated and does not know these stories very well.

He just listened to Kunqu Opera in a mess, rested for a while, and glanced secretly out of the window several times during this period.

After about half an hour of touching, Chen Shuren saw that Chen Fu, who was following, had come back in a hurry and winked at the stairs. He understood and used the excuse to change his clothes and left Zheng Hongkui to chat with Zhang Huangyan.

After releasing the water, Chen Shuren took advantage of the time to wash his hands and asked softly: "Is the dock clean up?"

Chen Fu replied while pouring the hand washing water: "It's already done, you can go at any time."

Chen Shuren took the hand towel and wiped it dry carefully: "Where is the sailor who caused the accident? How to deal with it? After all, he did not make any mistakes, it was all a coincidence."

Chen Fu: "Don't worry, I've been transferred. I told the other sailors that it was sick leave. I secretly gave him a few money to reward him for being loyal to his duties."

Shen Shuren nodded: "That's good. You can prepare the car first and leave when the song is finished singing."

As Chen Shuren said, he returned to the second floor, Yaduo and continued to listen to the opera.

He was meticulous and knew that after half of his listening, he suddenly flashed his eyes, which could easily arouse Zheng Hongkui's alertness. Anyone with a little bit of common sense in intelligence and work understands that at least he had to listen to the song in front of him without saying a word.

Not long after sitting down again, the "Mingfeng Ji" in front of him also reached the climax. The plot is roughly "The famous general of the Tatars in the Jiajing Dynasty, Zeng Xian, the Minister of War, was harmed by Yan Song, and finally got the wronged and was injustice."

The scholars who were playing the show downstairs applauded and couldn't help but talk loudly about criticizing the government.

After all, the Ming Dynasty is also facing multi-line combat. Many civil servants and supervisors were convicted by Chongzhen. This plot made the scholars feel very immersive, so they started to criticize, thinking that the emperor should not kill the scholars and officials indiscriminately.

I saw a scholar throwing a copper coin on the stage and slapped the table, saying indignantly:

"The court does not distinguish between merits and demerits, and loyalty and good people are wronged. It is hateful and lamentable! Since the beginning of the month, Zuo Liangyu was defeated by Zhang Xianzhong, he heard that His Majesty had dismissed Xiong Wencan, the governor of the six provinces, and was imprisoned.

Now that the thief is so rampant, the Li thief Zhang Ni surrendered and rebelled again, but instead surrendered again, and failed repeatedly. However, the imperial chief was immediately punished after a defeat! If this continues, wouldn’t it be disappointing! This Ming Dynasty is probably over!"

This was not about Shen Shu's personnel, but when he heard the scholar think of Xiong Wencan from the murder of Zeng Xian in the Jiajing Dynasty, he immediately complained that something was wrong in his heart, and he quickly looked at Zheng Hongkui with his eyes, for fear that the Zheng family would think too much.

Three days ago, when Chen Shuren just came over, there was no news of Xiong Wencan being imprisoned in Suzhou, but as time passed, the situation was obviously deteriorating day by day.

Zheng Hongkui's expression changed slightly, and the corners of his mouth twitched, but soon returned to normal, obviously knowing the key points.

Chen Shuren was worried that he wanted to pretend to be a novice and could not persuade him personally. In desperation, he had to quietly kick his cousin Zhang Huangyan under the table, give him a look, and imply that he would stop the scholars downstairs who were squirting.

Zhang Huangyan was stunned at first. Although he didn't understand which Shen's family was playing, he was very talented. In addition, he had already received care just now and wanted to help hold Zheng Hongkui.

So after a brief look, he realized that the topic that Chen Shuren wanted to stop was probably related to the Zheng family.

So Zhang Huangyan stood up and accused him of the crime: "Brother Zheng, I am a man who can't help but argue with others when I hear it. Let me talk, let me go and take a look."

Chen Shuren also followed the news: "Since that's the case, we still have something to do to go to the dock, so why not be here today."

Zhang Huangyan cooperated and said: "Okay, then I won't send it. You can walk more when you have time in the future."

However, it was too late after all. Zheng Hongkui was already attracted by the comments of the scholars and said in a cold tone: "Don't worry, I've been chatting for so long, and I don't have enough time to listen to their opinions."

Chen Shuren had no choice but to maintain his personality, he had to keep silent and watch the show and let his cousin deal with the scholars.

The only thing he could do was to hold Zheng Hongkui: "Since Uncle Shi is interested, it's okay to listen, but I am a man who is ignorant and will not go down."

Zheng Hongkui was not very educated, and was impatient to drop the book bags with the scholars. This arrangement was just right for him, so he followed Chen Shuren to watch the show on the second floor with the railing.

After Zhang Huangyan went downstairs, he bowed to the scholar who had just talked about it: "In Yuyao, Zhang Huangyan, dare you ask me about my brother's name? My brother's talk about it just now, but I'm a little puzzled and I want to ask for advice."

The scholar was about twenty-five or six years old and was waiting for the boat here. He saw that Zhang Huangyan was the host of the treat today, so he was not rude, but just bowed indifferently:

"Kunshan returns to the village! I dare not take the advice! I think that although Xiong Wencan is rash and trustworthy, Zhang Xianzhong has been deceiving surrender for more than a year. During this period, the court did not make any moves to remedy it. Is this the fault of Xiong Wencan alone? If the ministers do so much and make mistakes, and do not do well, and do not give the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, who will dare to give advice to the court in the future?"

After listening quietly, Zhang Huangyan retorted casually: "Brother Gui's words are wrong. Li, Zhang and other thieves are capricious and well-known. In the seventh year of Chongzhen, Chen Qiyu, Shaanxi, suffered this loss and mistakenly believed in surrendering. Even if the thief went out of the carriage and the gorge, he encountered repeated recurrences. Xiong Wencan had a lesson in the past, and he repeated the same mistakes. It would be unfair to be imprisoned to be imprisoned and asked for crimes."

Na Guizhuang heard that he took out Chen Qiyu's past lessons, but he didn't expect how to refute it for a while and was speechless for the time being.

However, there is another scholar next to him who looks similar to last year and has a pretty face, but he took over the conversation and talked happily:

"What Brother Zhang said is quite inspiring. Gu Jiang from Kunshan is here. I thought that even though Xiong Wencan deserves his crime, the court's handling is really not a solution to the country."

Zhang Huangyan had obviously heard of the other party's name and bowed back to his greeting: "It turned out to be Brother Tinglin, and I happened to ask Brother Tinglin for advice."

Gu Jiang was not polite and analyzed directly: "Xiong Wencan is sure to ruin the country. But if you tell me carefully, it is not difficult to find that there are as many as seven or eight thieves who have successfully surrendered in the past two years.

Now that the leader is Zhang Xianzhong, the other thieves, wanted to be at peace at first. This shows that Xiong Wencan's vision is at least seven or eight percent accurate."

Zhang Huangyan frowned and corrected: "What Brother Tinglin said seems to be inconsistent with the facts? The imperial palace newspaper clearly stated that Luo Rucai, the third camp of Junzhou and the fifth camp of the Glea Left, were all rebelled, and Hubei, Henan and Anhui were in ruins. How could it be said that only Zhang Xianzhong would not repent?"

But Gu Jiang shook his head. He had the ability to remember everything he saw, and he was very sure to know it: "You don't read the mansion carefully. The original Wenming clearly stated that "Xian Zhong rebelled against Gucheng and robbed Ru Cai in Fang County, so all the nine camps were rebelled."

Did you see the problem? Luo Rucai did have the opposite, but there are differences in order and cause and effect. The key lies in the word "tribulation". If the court was clear and clear, it would not vent its anger and suspicion, those thieves might not have rebelled because of "the other thieves who were dependent on me." They thought of "will the court suspicion be suspicious, I would also want to rebel" and finally suspicious of each other and were forced to rebel.

From this point of view, has the court so eager to take Xiong Wencan increased the fear of other thieves who were Zhao'an by Xiong Wencan?

I don’t know what the words of robbery were said when Zhang Xianzhong robbed Luo Rucai and robbed the left five camps. But it is probably the above truth to judge it. That’s why I said that the recklessness of the court has encouraged the thief.”

When Zhang Huangyan heard this, he didn't know how to refute it for a moment, and even his cousin's hinting at his task was temporarily unwilling to worry about it.

After thinking about it, he could only express his admiration for Gu Jiang's opinion for the time being. He wanted to invite him to have a few drinks and then ask for advice behind closed doors.

Shen Shuren, who was watching from the railing on the second floor, was feeling more and more.

When he saw Zhang Huangyan stopping Guizhuang just now, he felt that the situation was controllable, mainly because he had never heard of an unknown person like Guizhuang.

But after Gu Jiang appeared and refuted Zhang Huangyan, Shen Shuren immediately secretly complained that something was wrong.

He could hear that Gu Jiang was very knowledgeable and dialectical in looking at problems, so he was not an easy person.

More importantly, this is the great philosopher who has left his name in history - Gu Jiang is Gu Yanwu!

Shen Shuren felt a little sweat on his forehead, for fear that the situation would be completely out of control.

Zheng Hongkui next to him also had an increasingly ugly expression. He looked like he was throwing apart and suddenly criticized: "The scholar downstairs is knowledgeable. Isn't the court going to kill a donkey? He is accompanied by the king as if he is a tiger!"

Speaking of this, Shen Shuren's thoughts were piping, his brain quickly calculated, and finally he thought about it.

He knew that it would be too fake to continue pretending to be a little fool, so he looked like he suddenly realized it:

"Why did Uncle Shi be so unfair to Xiong Wencan's experience? Ah! I remembered that your Zheng family seemed to be relied on Xiong Wencan to help him back then? No wonder, it was a righteous person to see that his benefactor was in trouble."

Zheng Hongkui couldn't help but be stunned.

If Shen Shuren continued to pretend to be stupid just now, then he should be alert to the Shen family.

But Shen Shuren suddenly made the words clear, but he was a little unsure. He even thought that Shen Shuren was really ignorant and did react so slowly.

He adjusted his expression, touched his steel needle beard with a rough look, and laughed: "It's seen by my nephew. It's not bad. Our Zheng family was also Governor Xiong Zhao'an back then, so he was a little indignant."

Shen Shuren rolled his eyes and pretended to have just thought of it, and lowered his voice and exclaimed: "Since you are also being comforted by Xiong Wencan, according to Mr. Gu, you should be careful and humble recently so that you will not be suspicious of the court.

By the way, a few days ago, my nephew read the letter from the Imperial College that invited me to study in Nanjing. It also invited Governor Zhu's nephew and Ling's nephew Zheng Sen. I wonder how you arranged your nephew's academic studies?

I'm already sick, and if I'm delaying it any longer, I'll be afraid that the Imperial College will not look good. Alas, I originally wanted to be classmates with Brother Zheng, but unfortunately I can't let go of the women in Suzhou."
To be continued...