The empty city strategy is the pinnacle of wisdom, and riding into the enemy camp alone is the pinnacle of courage. Regardless of wisdom or courage, if you reach the pinnacle of either, you will be invincible in the world.
Wang Xian neither has the wisdom of Zhuge Liang nor the courage of Huo Qubing, but he is not Sima Yi, who is a rich man in Fuyang, and he is not Wang Xian who has experienced the cruel baptism of the Huns in Pujiang. Regardless of wisdom or courage, he is already superior to everyone in the county.
Above that, you can do whatever you want with no restrictions.
In the final analysis, these people are no longer his opponents...
The ship docked and before it stopped, firecrackers were set off on the shore. Amidst the crackling sound of firecrackers, red debris, and white smoke, the dock workers took the cables thrown from the ship and skillfully tied the two ends of the ship.
After the pedal was put down, Wang Xingye and his wife slowly got off the boat, supported by four servants with their heads held high and their bellies high.
At this time, the sound of firecrackers stopped, but the sound of gongs and drums started again. The lions on both sides began to dance and fight hard, trying to attract the attention of the distinguished guests. It was not until the drums beat faster that they separated. Amidst the increasingly dense drums,
, the lions on both sides slowly stood up.
The moment he stood upright, the drum sound stopped suddenly. After a few breaths, the drummer struck hard and crisply twice. The lions on both sides opened their mouths at the same time, and each spit out a red vertical banner.
When the scroll is unrolled, the vertical banner on the left reads "Return to Ning Naibang," and the vertical banner on the right reads "Yu Yourong Yan,"
Although they didn't quite understand what they meant, Wang Xingye and Aunt Wang still applauded vigorously. The gentry and wealthy businessmen hurriedly came forward and bowed to express their New Year greetings, saying "good luck and good fortune," but a pair of eyes drifted behind the two of them -
There, Wang Xian, wearing a big cloak, was walking down slowly with his little niece in his arms.
"My lord, congratulations on the new year." "Congratulations on the new year, lord." Sure enough, when Wang Xian got off the boat, the voices of the officials, gentry, and wealthy businessmen suddenly increased several times. Although they didn't want his father to see the difference, some of their emotions were just fake.
Can't come out.
"Haha, happy New Year to everyone." Wang Xian smiled and nodded, teasing the niece in his arms and said: "Xin'er, hurry up and say New Year greetings to grandpa and uncles." Along the way, he taught Xin'er this skill, but the little girl fell down.
He was also obedient, holding his pink little fists together and shaking them vigorously.
"This child is so good," all the gentry said with smiles, but the wealthy businessmen took out the red envelopes they had prepared and stuffed them into the arms of the new child. The gentry did not expect that there was a child, and it was too late to prepare now, so they stood aside with their hands tied.
It was immediately embarrassing... The businessmen won another round.
After collecting the New Year's money for the new son, Wang Xian glanced at his father who was being polite to everyone, nodded to everyone, then ducked down, boarded Erhei's carriage, and left without waiting for his family to join him.
How could the squires let him leave like this? Several members of the party held the door frame and said with a calm face: "Sir, we have prepared a banquet in Zuixian Tower. Please be sure to enjoy it."
"..." Wang Xian was sitting in the carriage, unable to see his expression clearly, and his voice was low and heart-stopping: "I'm a little tired, so I'm sorry, let's talk about it another day." Then he said to the coachman: "Drive."
‘Driving, the coachman waved his whip, and Erhei slowly drove out of the pier.
"Master Wang, what's going on?" The gentry were a little dumbfounded.
"Don't be surprised. He has been like this these past few days. He has a stinking face during the Chinese New Year." Wang Xingye explained for Wang Xian: "It's like everyone owes him eight hundred coins."
The gentry's hearts trembled. Wang Xian was very angry. The consequences would be serious...
"We have prepared a feast for the reception," the gentry had to turn to the next step: "Please also ask Mr. Wang and Mr. Wang to honor you."
"Oh, I just promised Li Yuanwai and Lu Yuanwai." Wang Xingye said apologetically: "Aren't you two together?"
"No..." The gentry couldn't help but feel depressed when they saw that they couldn't even invite Wang Xian's father.
"Let's give in. How about I go to Yuan Li's side and ask Wang Gui to come to your side?" Wang Xingye had a very good idea.
"Is this..." The gentry couldn't laugh or cry, thinking that we would treat Wang Da to a ridiculous meal. But then they thought, if we couldn't even invite Wang Da, today's trip would be a big embarrassment. Even just to go down the stairs, we have to
He quickly agreed: "Good idea..."
So Wang Xingye followed the people from the Chamber of Commerce to the Zhou Family Restaurant, and Wang Gui followed the gentry to the Zuixian Tower. The female relatives were sent to Wang Gui's house, where they were served by the Hou family.
Wang Xian did not live in Wang Gui's house, but stayed in a villa outside Lu Yuanwai. In order to welcome his arrival, Lu Yuanwai had just tidied up the house two years ago, prepared the furniture expenses, and sent eight maids to wait on him.
.
In the study room in the backyard, Wang Xian had taken off his coat and thick boots, and was wearing a 90%-new lake blue satin thin cotton robe, extremely crisp leggings, white socks, and black satin shoes, sitting comfortably on a chair.
At your feet is a snow-white copper brazier, burning smokeless fine charcoal. On the Eight Immortals table at hand, there are eight tall plates filled with fruit snacks.
Wang Xian ate two pieces of snacks and then sipped the delicious Biluochun, looking relaxed and free.
Shuai Hui stood aside. Although he would be an official next year, in front of Wang Xian, he still regarded himself as a footman and refused to sit down. But his face was full of excitement, and he talked about his life these days with excitement:
"It was quiet for the first few days after I came back. I just walked around with a few friends from the Yamen. Who would have thought that since the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, my family has been getting guests all the time. At first, it was the housekeepers, nephews and the like from big families who came to see me off.
Order some New Year's goods. Later, when they heard that I had already filed for divorce, the gang members completely relaxed and came to visit me all day long. My grandpa was very encouraging at first, but later he got tired of greeting me..." Shuai Hui said with a smile: "
Let’s put it this way, it’s been more than half a month, and apart from the New Year’s Eve dinner, I haven’t had a single meal at home.”
"I haven't slept at home for a night." Erhei came in with a hot square tray. "This guy will die on a woman's belly sooner or later."
"This is what I like." Shuai Hui hurriedly carried the fruit plate and asked Erhei to put the tray down. He smiled and said, "Everyone has their own tastes, just like you are delicious. I don't curse you to death."
"Come on, sir, you still have to eat." Er Heibai glanced at him and said with a smile: "My lord, it's right not to sit down at the table. Yuan Lu invited a chef from the capital, which is not comparable to that of a restaurant in the county." He said with salivation.
Wang Xian didn't expect that there was a freshly baked roast duck on the tray. It was maroon red, dripping with oil, and hot. It also came with steamed lotus leaf pancakes, scallion sauce, etc. How is this different from the Beijing roast duck of later generations? Why is it called Jinling?
Roast Duck?
After a second thought, he remembered that in a few years, the capital of the Ming Dynasty would be moved from Nanjing to Beijing. I guess roast duck was also passed on at that time. Who cares, authentic and delicious food is king.
Wang Xian skillfully picked up a piece of lotus leaf pancake, spread it with scallions for dipping the sauce, and then sandwiched a piece of roast duck. The chef's skills were really impressive, the slices were very thin, each piece had skin, oil and meat, rolled it up and took a bite.
Wang Xian was moved and almost shed tears. This smell has not changed for hundreds of years.
Inviting the two of them to start eating together, the whole duck was eaten. The three of them ate with rosy faces and enjoyed themselves. When they were excited, Wang Xian invited the chef to come over and meet him. He saw that he was an old man in his fifties, thin and thin.
He is thin and tidy, unlike those greasy chefs who are round and look like a lion's head.
"This old man's surname is Gao. Where did he originally work?" Wang Xian said with a smile: "This roast duck is not made by ordinary stores."
"Your Excellency, you are so complimentary." The chef chuckled and said, "My surname is Dong. You can just call me Lao Dong. I have been in many shops, and my craftsmanship is not very good."
"Okay, I'll do it if I say yes." Wang Xian said domineeringly as always: "Watch and enjoy."
Shuai Hui brought two slings of money. The chef took it, thanked him politely, took the tray and went down.
"This cook is quite classy." Shuai Hui touched his head and smiled.
"Each person has his own personality," Wang Xian shook his head and smiled, not caring.
However, after a while, the cook came back with a tray. It turned out that he had steamed the egg custard in the bowl of duck fat he handed over during the roast duck, and cooked the duck rack into soup. The egg custard was golden and the duck soup was milky white, which made people salivate. It turned out that this Dong
Chef, express your gratitude with actions, not words.
This made Wang Xian and others have a great impression of him. When they tasted the egg custard and duck soup, they were fresh and delicious as never before, which made people feel that Chef Dong should have some personality.
After he stopped eating and put tea on the table, Wang Xiancai asked: "What are they looking for you for? Isn't it just a family affair?"
"Actually, you are trying to trick me." Shuai Hui said with a smile: "I asked you about your experience in Pujiang, who you are friendly with, and whether you really know the imperial envoy of Fantai." He said with a smile and said: "The most important thing is
, they are just making innuendo and asking adults how they are going to deal with them."
"What did you say?" Wang Xian asked.
"According to your Majesty's instructions, of course I hesitated and refused to say anything, but I accidentally gave them some powerful information." Shuai Hui said with a smile: "I said that before your Majesty left Pujiang, Zhou Zhengtai had a special talk with you for half of the time.
Shi Chen seems to want you to go back to Fuyang to investigate some case. They were so anxious that they asked me what case it was. I said I didn't know, but it was definitely not a trivial matter if Zhou Zhitai personally ordered it. "
"Later, they seemed to have inquired and found out that this conversation really existed." Erhei also said: "Then they started to make guesses. Some people guessed that it was a settlement after the fall... At the beginning, they asked the salt transport envoy to seize the grain ship and let the feudal lord move to Taiwan.
They all lost face, and now Zhou Zhitai took action to deal with them; some people guessed that Mr. Wei sent a message to Zhou Zhitai, asking him to help deal with them... In short, they had all kinds of guesses, and they were just trying to kill themselves.
Scared to death."
"Oh, what I'm most afraid of is this kind of half-truth and half-false lies. No one dares not to believe it." Shuai Hui said with a smile: "In addition, that old guy Li, outside the army, switched sides at the last moment. They were completely discouraged. They found me in the middle of the night last night.
You want me to tell you something?"
"What words?"
"There is some misunderstanding about this matter. They will never dare to confront you, sir. Please let them live." Shuai Hui said.
"..." Wang Xian smacked his lips, touched his chin and said, "Why do I feel that in their hearts, I am as good as risking my life?"