Chapter 280 The tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop (Part 2)
Before dawn, while the little sister was still awake, Chen Ke gently laid her flat on the bed, slowly pulled the quilt over, kissed her forehead, and then tiptoed out. He didn't like to hold hands and look into each other's eyes with tears.
The parting scene will make the hero short of breath.
Little did he know, the little girl behind him opened her eyes and sent him away with tears in her eyes...
~~~~~~~~~~~
At the Meishan Pier, Chen Ke said goodbye to Su Shi who came to see him off, told him to take good care of his little sister, and then boarded the double-decker official ship that had been waiting there.
After getting on the boat, he took off his mourning clothes and put on plain clothes. Chen Ke came to the front hall to meet Wang Gui.
Wang Gui first expressed his condolences, and then expressed his guilt for not being able to attend the ceremony in person.
After Chen Ke expressed his gratitude on behalf of the Yue family, he turned to the main topic and asked: "Prince, have you met Mr. Zhang?" Mr. Zhang is Zhang Fangping. This man was promoted to the third envoy last year. Unexpectedly, before setting off, something happened in southern Sichuan.
There was a rebellion in the army, and he had to stay to quell the rebellion. In February, he had just packed up and prepared to set off again, but the Nong Zhigao Incident happened again...
"No, he has already gone to Yazhou." Wang Gui shook his head and said: "But the Privy Council sent me a message saying that tens of thousands of troops from Shaanxi Province are also moving towards Chengdu, and there are troops from Huguang who are also moving by water.
Let's go ahead. The Privy Council has also sent a thousand carts of weapons, which will arrive soon. With their backing, we can be more sure."
"But the people in Shu are going to suffer again." Chen Ke sighed: "The locals are soldiers and the foreigners are bandits. With so many troops pouring into Shu, I'm afraid it's not just to guard against Nong Zhigao..."
"Otherwise, soldiers are ominous things and should not be used rashly..." Wang Gui was graceful and magnanimous. He was a typical official who pretended to be confused. Of course he knew that while the court was on guard against Nong Zhigao, it also
Be on guard against someone in Shu taking the opportunity to cause trouble, and Wang Xiaobo comes out again.
"What's the situation like recently?" Now that we've come out, we can't care about what's behind us. It's better to complete the mission as soon as possible so that the visiting soldiers have no reason to stay in Shu for a long time. This is the most useful thing for the elders in the hometown. Chen Ke then changed the topic and asked
: "I met many local officials in Meishan, and they all said that people are panicked now."
"Yes, there is now widespread news in Chengdu that General Nong Zhigao has led his army to Sichuan. Coupled with the endless banditry in Shu, the Qiang area has been in turmoil. The state officials are convinced of this and are busy deploying troops to build the city wall.
There is no rest day and night, and the people are also very disturbed." Wang Gui said with a worried look: "We Shu people were frightened by the war. Many wealthy people even moved their families away. There are also those who took advantage of the troubled waters to fish in troubled waters. I don't think Nong Zhi is needed.
If Gao comes over and kills you, Shuzhong itself will be in chaos."
"I believe that with Mr. Zhang's ability, the situation will be stabilized." Chen Ke comforted him. He frowned and said, "However, officials from both Sichuan and Sichuan have just learned about Nong Zhigao's matter, so how can it spread so much?"
"It's a coincidence," Wang Gui said with a wry smile: "Just last month, the news that Nong Zhigao was still alive was brought out by the business gangs in Dali. The local officials were so frightened by his murderous life that they announced five reports for three days.
Exaggerating the situation. The imperial court hastily ordered Zhang Xianggong to block the main roads leading to Dali. That's why he went to Yazhou."
"What a mess." Chen Ke sighed and said, "The problem is that if we make a fuss here, shouldn't Dali get nervous?"
"That's natural." Wang Gui said, "We will know when we get to Yazhou and see Mr. Zhang."
The next morning, three official ships arrived at Ya'an City, the seat of Yazhou. It was the trading ground for tea and horse trade between the Song Dynasty and Fanbang, so it was more prosperous than Meizhou.
In addition to being an important commercial city, it is also an important border defense town of the Song Dynasty... Although Yazhou is not the border of the Song Dynasty, it is the end of the imperial court's power. Going further south, you will enter the 100,000 people controlled by the ethnic minority ministries.
There are mountains... The same goes for Dali Country on the other side of the mountains. Although the two countries are theoretically bordering each other, there are actually thousands of miles of high mountains and ridges stretching across them. There are countless people of all ethnic groups in between. This is why the two countries have almost cut off contact with each other.
.Especially for the Song Dynasty, the reason why Dali has a very poor sense of existence.
Therefore, Yazhou was the border defense center of the Song Dynasty. There were 20,000 imperial troops stationed here, and they had the power to recruit nearly 50,000 local soldiers at any time. When Wang Gui and Chen Ke thought about it, at such a turbulent time, the city of Ya'an must have been full of soldiers.
.
Who would have thought that the dock in front of us was still crowded with business travelers, and there was no sign of a large-scale military gathering.
There was the official office of the Tea Horse Company on the pier. When he saw three large official ships approaching, he quickly stepped forward and asked if they were the Bianjing envoy. After receiving a positive reply, the promotion officer of the Tea Horse Company asked to see the superior official.
After asking for instructions, the guards let him go up. As soon as he saw Wang Gui in purple robe and jade belt, Na Tiju saluted and paid homage, saying: "Our husband already knew that the imperial envoy was coming, but in order to avoid creating tension, we did not send any officers or soldiers."
Yinghou asked me to apologize to the superior on his behalf."
"When the country is in trouble, how can we talk about false etiquette?" Wang Gui shook his head and said, "Where is your husband?"
"In the government office."
"Lead the way quickly!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hahaha..." Zhang Fangping had already been informed of the Yazhou government office and came to the door to greet Wang Gui and his party. He was a tall, dark-skinned official with a loud voice. He seemed to be a very straightforward official. But his eyes were as deep as autumn pools.
His eyes made people know that this old man was anything but simple. Although he was more than ten years older than Wang Gui, he was also an old acquaintance in Beijing. Now that we were reunited in the southwest border, he was naturally very happy. He cupped his fists and laughed loudly: "Yu Yu
Brother, stay safe and sound!"
"An Daogong, your style is even better than before!" Wang Gui saluted quickly. Chen Ke stood slightly behind him and saluted accordingly.
Zhang Fangping took a step forward, supported the two of them and said, "This must be the top scholar in the new science!"
"It's Chen Zhongfang, the top scholar in the undergraduate program!" Wang Gui introduced him with a proud look on his face: "Zhong Fang, this is the famous Taoist Master Zhang An!"
"Your Majesty, please pay homage to Mr. Zhang!" Chen Ke had no choice but to pay homage to Mr. Zhang again. He was now serving as the Third Secretary of State to inform Yizhou Prefecture and to advise on the military affairs of the two Sichuan provinces. Naturally, he deserved the title of Mr. Zhang.
"Okay, okay, you don't need to be polite to the number one scholar," Zhang Fangping helped him up and said with a friendly look on his face: "I have heard about his reputation for a long time, and it is like thunder in my ears. We have been friends for a long time, so we should treat him as brothers."
"Zhang Gong has killed his subordinates." What Chen Ke meant was that he wouldn't call you Xianggong, but it would be too much to be casual. In official circles, one has to speak false and empty official language, which made him feel uncomfortable.
Extremely awkward.
"Let's go in and talk." Zhang Fangping took Chen Ke with one hand and Wang Gui with the other, and welcomed them into the house affectionately.
The servant served tea and snacks. Zhang Fangping smiled at Chen Ke and said, "Su Laoquan took his two boys to see me last year. It is said that you also arrived in Chengdu, but you avoided seeing me. Do you think you should or shouldn't?"
"It really shouldn't be," Chen Ke said with an apologetic smile, "but Mr. Zhang is busy with official duties, and I am afraid that there will be too many people, and you will be annoyed."
"This is not true." Zhang Fangping had the cheerful character of a man from the Central Plains and laughed loudly: "You are avoiding me because your teacher and I are at odds and you are worried about being embarrassed, so you are avoiding me, right?"
"It's absolutely not the case." Even though he was said seriously, Chen Ke couldn't admit it. So he shook his head and said: "Zhang Gong is a noble man, how can he embarrass a younger generation?"
"Hahaha, you are really good at talking." Zhang Fangping said with a smile: "I heard that you wrote 100,000 words silently before you could participate in the examination. Is this true?"
"It's unbearable to look back." Chen Ke smiled bitterly and said, "But it is true."
"That boy Wang Jiefu always has no one to spare. If you can get through it, you can show him what it means to be 'out there'." Zhang Fangping smiled happily, gave a thumbs up and praised: "Awesome, awesome!"
"I'm still not as good as Zhang Gong." Chen Ke smiled bitterly and said: "It took me ten years to memorize one hundred thousand words, but the prince only took ten days to memorize the 'Three Histories'. How can the light of a grain of rice dare to compete with the bright moon?"
?”
This flattery made Zhang Fangping feel comfortable all over, and his face blossomed with smiles. Because in terms of intelligence and memorization, he was definitely the number one person in the Song Dynasty. Many prodigies and geniuses only got ashes for him.
It is said that he can read ten lines at a time and have a photographic memory. When he was young, he once borrowed the "Three Histories" from someone and returned it within ten days. Every sentence in it can be firmly remembered... The "Three Histories" are "Historical Records", "Han Dynasty" and "Historical Records".
"Book", "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", "Historical Records" alone has more than 500,000 words, he can memorize them all in ten days, where can you go to reason?
"My family was too poor, so I had to borrow books if I wanted to study, so I had to memorize them all." Zhang Fangping said with a smile: "It's funny to say that I couldn't remember all the books I bought when I became an official.
I remember all the borrowed books clearly. Do you think it’s funny or not?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He kept talking about ancient times here, while Chen Ke and Wang Gui over there both showed helpless expressions. It was really a panic meeting a slow man. They were full of anxiety and rushed to Ya'an City. Who knew?
The highest military and political officer in Shu was not in a hurry at all.
Not only does he say he is not in a hurry, but looking at the calm scene where merchants gathered in Ya'an City without any warning, you can tell that he is really not in a hurry.
"An Daogong, as far as I know, the imperial court ordered the general to block the trade route to Dali." Wang Gui finally couldn't help but asked: "Why does it seem that border trade has not been affected?"
"Haha," Zhang Fangping said with a nonchalant smile: "Closing the trade routes will only bring huge losses to the merchants, and will also bring unnecessary panic, allowing people to take advantage of the opportunity, but there will be no benefits at all. So,
The ministers in the Song Dynasty were so arrogant, and it would be a blessing for the country to meet a capable official like Zhang Fangping. But I am afraid that some people who are less successful than others and more likely to fail will mess around.
Because my daughter-in-law was suspected of triggering it, I was in a state of turmoil for two hours, which completely disrupted the plan. The next chapter will be published tomorrow morning, please have mercy on me, a guy who is always in trouble.
