It had just rained, and there was still water flowing on the street outside. The courtyard on the north side of Hangzhou City was brightly lit, and the bright red lanterns outlined the appearance of the long street. There were waves of cars and horses, and crowds gathered.
This piece of decoration comes from the most lively scene after Fang La ascended the throne.
On August 22nd, there was a banquet for officials of the Yongle Dynasty.
This area was originally called Changxing Street, and the people living nearby were originally the famous gentry in Hangzhou. Two streets away from here, a large house that was originally a prince's palace has now become the palace of the small court of the Yongle Dynasty. Changxing Street is at
The earthquake did not cause much damage. It is said that Fang Qifu had already taken a liking to the nearby area, and it did not suffer extensive damage during the subsequent war disaster. The Baiguan Banquet, a relatively grand banquet, was therefore held here.
Ning Yi first had a meal at home and then came over. The little follower who followed Ah Chang's instructions only went as far as the door. After submitting the post, he went in under the guidance of the general. On the way, he met a scribe whom he met in the academy.
Said hello.
There are about four to five hundred people in total for this official banquet. Adding in the surrounding soldiers and generals responsible for public security and the servants responsible for work, there are thousands of people. This was originally a luxurious courtyard and garden.
In the past, it seemed grand, but now when walking in it, you can see people coming and going between the lights and shadows, and various people passing through rockeries, pavilions, and gravel paths, it feels like visiting a temple fair.
But when you get to the back, the scene opens up. There is a medium-sized square between the houses. Now the walls of the surrounding houses facing the square have been opened, and each one is painted red.
The round tables stretched out under the eaves of some houses in a long queue-like formation. It seemed to be a bit grand. The high awnings that were originally erected on the square have now been mostly removed.
The ground was basically dry, and the awnings that had not been removed surrounded the surrounding area. Under the awnings, lanterns were hung high, making it quite lively.
Although the people who entered Hangzhou were basically a group of farmers with little wealth and wealth, at least there would be no shortage of all kinds of luxurious materials in the city. Ning Yi's current circle of contacts in Hangzhou is not large.
But there are naturally some people he knows, such as the scribes from Wenlie Academy and the parents of some academy disciples. It is more suitable to talk to each other today. Naturally, there are some participants from the Ba Dao camp. He searched briefly, and then
Found a spot in a corner of the back room.
This table is basically composed of some small stewards in Ba Dao Camp today, just like the two scribes who used to handle affairs with Liu Dabiao, and like some of the small stewards under Liu Tiannan. After Fang La's Yongle Dynasty was established, everyone was more or less an official.
, came over to join in the fun and show their faces. As for Liu Tiannan, the head of the bodyguards around Liu Dabiao, Du Sha, Luo Bingren and others, although they had a good relationship with each other, they would not come to this table even if they arrived.
.
Although Ning Yi is an outsider, everyone knows that he has quite a lot of ability, and they don't usually give him a bad look. Ning Yi is by no means the kind of person who verbally gives people a negative impression in this kind of interactions, even if he is with them.
The two scribes also got along well with each other. These people were all old people with certain qualifications in the Ba Dao Camp. They had seen a lot of things following Zhengzhan. When Ning Yi sat down, one of them named Liu Zhizhang, the writing master, pulled
He looked at Ning Yi and introduced to him some of the people present now.
"Look, the man with the long beard in front is called Gao Yu. I know him, he is both civil and military, and he is a very powerful person. We have had dinner together before. The fat one not far from him is the ancestor of our ancestor, the prime minister of Zhuang.
The Lord is very nice. We have talked together before. We are a family..." "Come a little closer and look, the one who is laughing is Zhang Daoyuan. Sometimes he is very reckless, but some people say that he talks with his heart and uses his sword with his heart. But you don't need to worry about him...
…”
"Xu Bai, Yuan Xing, they are often together... Where is Li Tiancai... Jia and brother, have you seen Li Tiancai?"
Liu Zhizhang pointed and talked for a while, as if he was specifically looking for someone to show to Ning Yi. Ning Yi also understood that Zhang Daoyuan, Xu Bai, Yuan Xing, and Li Tiansui originally wanted to take action.
The person who killed him had to retreat because of the appearance of Chen Fan. Although Liu Zhizhang and others were only mediocre in handling matters, their level of well-informedness in the Ba Dao camp was definitely better than his, naturally a little bit.
After asking about the situation that day, I gave Ning Yi a subtle reminder.
Tang Jiahe next to him is a small steward in Zhuangzi, and he is now in charge of the miscellaneous things in those streets. He is in his thirties, kowtows at the huāsheng, and is quite gangster. He looked around,
He patted Ning Yi's shoulder carelessly: "I didn't see it, so what. Brother Ning, don't worry about these people. What do you think of Li Tian? Even if his brother Marshal Li arrives, he has to give face to the owner of the village."
After he said this, someone on the side thought for a moment and asked, "I heard that Brother Ning also offended Shi Shuai?" Tang Jiahe scratched his hair and said, "Shi Shuai has a tolerance for others, and he is not so unreasonable.
As a person, Brother Ning is of the same mind as us now, he will think about it. Even if he refuses to give up,
Aren’t Chen Fan and Brother Ning also friends? Li Shuai, Shi Shuai, and the owner of the village, Chen Fan, are just a draw..."
"It's hard to say, the village owner and Chen Fan are young after all..."
"It's not like the village owner and Shi Shuai have never fought before..."
The Marshal Li these people are talking about is of course Li Tianhe, and Marshal Shi is of course Shi Bao. Xigua's status in front of Fang La is obviously quite aloof. Once there is a conflict with others, the one who can win with reason may just be reasonable.
, if you are too lazy to talk, you will draw your sword and kill the person, and you will see the difference in a duel. This is probably not the first time. Everyone is talking about each other with relish, and Ning Yi is also listening with interest.
Naturally, he doesn't have to worry about this now. Liu Dabiao is actually a person who understands the importance of things. Since he wants to protect himself, it means that he has already weighed the balance. At present, it seems that it is still believable. The few people talked for a while, and then talked about who among the rebels now.
Who is the most powerful, the most powerful, etc.
In fact, at this banquet of hundreds of officials, there were not many real heavyweights in the rebel army, and Ning Yi knew it well. Now Fang Qifu, who is less than one person and more than ten thousand people, is attacking Jiaxing. Although his subordinates have led
Shi Bao, Li Tianhe and others, but it seems that the war is not going well: Fang Baihua came back to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival a few days ago. He originally said that he would attend the banquet of hundreds of officials, but he hurriedly left the city the day before yesterday and took charge
The war situation in the northwest has ended: Wang Yin, now the Minister of War, is in the south, cooperating with Si Xingfang, Deng Yuanjue and Liao to fight in the Yuezhou and Taizhou areas, and to support Lu Shinang's uprising in Taizhou, and the fight is quite impressive.
The four heavenly kings, the real heavyweights, have basically not arrived. Now in Hangzhou City, Lou Minzhong is considered a faction. He is in charge of the government and has great power. Zu Shiyuan, the right prime minister, is relatively unstable. He has no relationship with Lou Minzhong and Qi Yuankang, the political advisor.
Yes, although Tianshi Bao Daoyi seems to be low-key, he is actually a typical example of a person who has a lot of money, a lot of brothers, and a lot of guys. Nowadays, everyone who worships and hugs the top of the mountain basically comes to these few people. Of course, there are also other small hills.
, but naturally they are not as famous as these people. As for Liu Dabiao, he only raises flags internally, and people outside can't even hug him if they want to, so not many people know about it.
Ning Yi had already had an outline in his mind, and now it became clearer after listening to some gossip. Bao Daoyi, Qi Yuankang hadn't arrived yet, Lou Minzhong and Zu Shiyuan were surrounded by a crowd, looking from a distance,
It was quite aura. After watching this for a while, Ning Yi went out to use the toilet. On the way back, he was stopped by a figure in the corridor.
"Ning Liheng."
The person who came had a dignified appearance, a calm temperament, and a touch of elegance. He was about thirty years old. He cupped his hands after speaking. Ning Yi took a look at it twice, and then searched for the image of this person in his memory:
"Long Xingshou, long time no see."
I had only met this person twice before. The first time was when I first arrived in Hangzhou and I went there with Tan'er to visit him. The second time was when I met and said hello on the street one day. The other person's name was
His name was Long Boyuan, and he was the head of the original cloth trade guild in Hangzhou. Seeing that Ning Yi still remembered him, the man was slightly surprised. He smiled and waved his hand: "Hey, don't talk about the head of the line.
Not anymore."
He laughed for a while and asked: "Nephew Ning Xian can't go back, what about the niece of the Su family?"
"It's hard to explain in words, but Tan'er is back, and I have no worries about you."
"I'm going back, okay." Long Boyuan smiled, nodded, and then patted him on the shoulder, "Where is Li Heng now? Where does he live? How is his situation?"
"Oh, I couldn't escape. I became a teacher at Wenlie Academy. Now I write things for people and do classification." Ning Yi gave an overview of his situation. "How is Brother Long?"
"No, when the army entered the city, all the family property was almost robbed. Although there was some experience in the cloth business, the old ways of the past were gone. Nowadays, all the different religions in the market are new and they don't know the rules.
How should we handle it? We can barely survive. In troubled times, business is hard to do." He smiled, "The happiest thing now is to see that my old friends are fine, although it is not a good thing here. It's good that Su Jiaxian's niece is gone.
But since Li Heng is here, I will have more time to travel around in the future, so I will still live in the same place. Bo Fen, like Li Heng, is also a scholar and can speak well." Although he is engaged in business, his younger brother Long Bo in the family
Fen, on the other hand, is a genuine literati.
Ning Yi also smiled: "That's how it should be."
"Okay, I'll go over first." Long Boyuan patted his shoulder, and then leaned closer. "If you don't leave, the girl opposite is coming over, haha."
After he said this, he smiled and walked away without looking back. Ning Yi turned around with some doubts and saw half a courtyard away. Under the red lantern in the corridor over there, a woman was tilting her head slightly.
Looking over with some confusion, it was Lou Shuwan whom I hadn't seen for a long time.