In the second year of Zhongtong, March 27th, Bozhou.
Zhang Hongdao hurried to the door of the mansion, and more than ten cavalrymen from the other side of the long street rushed towards him, and they were in front of him in a moment.
"Hush!"
The leading knight dismounted first and strode to Zhang Hongdao.
He is tall and tall, with a majestic appearance and a long beard that touches his chest. He looks like a beautiful man with a beard. However, his eyes are as bright as stars, and he is obviously still very young.
"Fifth brother."
"Kuro!"
Zhang Hongdao patted Zhang Hongfan's shoulder hard, with a look of approval and a hint of awe in his eyes.
"My fifth brother has stayed behind in Bozhou. I haven't seen you for a few years. I heard that you are seriously ill?"
"It doesn't matter, how is your father's health?"
"My father is fine. He was recently granted the title of Doctor Ronglu."
"So it seems that Kaiping City is worry-free?"
"In the battle of Ximutunao'er, the offensive and defensive momentum was easy. Brother Alibaba was defeated, and His Majesty even took a rest for the whole winter and counterattacked at Halaholin...Huh? Fifth brother was not happy when he heard about the situation of the battle?"
Zhang Hongdao looked around and hesitated, saying: "I got the news a long time ago, but I don't know the details yet."
"Go in and talk..."
The personal guards at the back were carrying the luggage, and the two brothers were walking in front, all the way through the courtyard.
Zhang Hongdao can be called a hero of the time, but walking side by side with Zhang Hongfan, not only is his stature inferior, but his momentum is also suppressed.
Zhang Hongfan was only twenty-three years old at the time, but his behavior was mature. He stroked his long beard on his chest when he spoke, as if he were a state minister.
"On the twentieth day of the winter lunar month, our 150,000 king divisions will be divided into three formations. The Mongolian cavalry will be on the right, the Han cavalry will be on the left, and the Han army's infantry will be waiting in a square formation in the middle. The rebels will come from both wings, and we will use our spears to
, shield to fight... When the battle was in full swing, the rebel barbarians were defeated first, and Ali Buge ordered the withdrawal. The next day, Asotai led 50,000 rebels to arrive to help Ali Buge."
"It's so dangerous." Zhang Hongdao said thoughtfully: "If Asutai had come one day earlier, I'm afraid it would be difficult to stop him."
Zhang Hongfan turned around and stared at him before continuing to chat.
"Yes, we fought again the next day, and our king's division was gradually unable to withstand it. At that time, Shi Tianze was on the left. Seeing that the situation was not good, he led three thousand Han cavalry to quietly leave the battlefield, circle behind the right wing of the rebels, and make a surprise attack. Hela.
Char was caught off guard, and the rebel right wing was immediately defeated, causing chaos between the center army and the left wing. Our army had a small victory."
"Shi Tianze has made great achievements."
Zhang Hongfan asked: "Your Majesty has marched north. What do you think the fifth brother will do in the battle between Hara and Lin?"
"As long as the supply of Hara and Lin is cut off, Alibaba's defeat will be obvious."
Zhang Hongfan nodded and said: "Your Majesty ordered Hedan, Tacha'er, Hebichi and other kings to follow him in the northern expedition, and ordered my father, Shi Tianze, Yan Zhongji and other Han troops to return to the Central Plains. What does Fifth Brother know?"
"Because of the situation in Guanlong?"
"This is one of them." Zhang Hongfan raised his hand and pointed, "There is one Li in the west, and there is another Li in the east."
"Li Fen has been planning for so many years, and finally waited until His Majesty went north to conquer Hara and Forest."
"Your Majesty knows everything in his heart. He knows everything."
By this point, the two of them had entered the flower hall. Zhang Hongfan turned his head and glanced toward the backyard, smiled, and kept silent about state affairs.
"Brother Ninth Brother Ninth Brother."
Zhang Wenwan ran quickly, followed by a large group of maids.
Before she even arrived in front of the hall, she had already shouted a lot. Her clear voice made the flower hall lively.
"I haven't seen Brother Ninth for many years. This city of Bozhou is really boring. Can you take me back to Baozhou this time? I want to play with Sister Six of my third uncle's family. She also said she misses me in the last letter...
Hey, Ninth Brother didn’t bring me a gift.”
"There are gifts. The box at the back is full of treasures for you to play with."
"Do you have any interesting objects? I want a big knife, but Fifth Brother won't give it to me."
"You can't dance anymore, Brother Ninth brought you a crossbow."
"Great! As expected, Ninth Brother is the best. Can you take me to Dangshan to suppress the bandits? Fifth Brother refused to take me there last time. He was so angry."
Zhang Hongfan first stroked his beard and laughed, but in the end he said with a straight face: "Don't make any noise anymore. After the New Year, you have reached your age. When I come back this time, I will send you to Xingzhou to get married. You..."
"don't want."
"It's not up to you. You don't have the grace of a famous lady at all, not like the eldest sister." Zhang Hongfan pretended not to know, and said: "By the way, where is she? She didn't come to greet me? I brought a box of calligraphy and paintings...
…”
Zhang Wenwan rolled her eyes, called the maids to move the boxes and left.
"Brother Ninth is tired of pommeling the horse, so I won't disturb you little sister. Let's go quickly."
The wind, wind and fire were like a group of bandits coming to rob Zhang Hongfan.
Zhang Hongfan only found it funny and said: "Among the brothers and sisters, it is the second sister who is the most like my father in temperament."
"Yeah." Zhang Hongdao looked dull, sat down on the chair and rubbed his head.
"Last year, I met Guo Hongjing. He is a nice person and has a good background." Zhang Hongfan said: "Although the Guo family in Xingzhou is not powerful, it is a scholarly family. Guo Hongjing's eldest brother Guo Shoujing is really the most important person in the world.
Great talent."
"I know." Zhang Hongdao nodded.
Guo Hongjing's grandfather Guo Rong was a well-known scholar in the late Jin Dynasty. He was proficient in the Five Classics and was good at arithmetic and water conservancy.
The Guo brothers studied under Liu Bingzhong and Zhang Wenqian successively.
As the first adviser to the shogunate, Liu Bingzhong opened an academy in Zijin Mountain when he returned to Xingzhou to mourn. Xingzhou scholars studied astronomy, geography, laws and calendars, and arithmetic, and outstanding figures emerged in large numbers.
The Xingzhou School was the core of the Jinlianchuan shogunate and the founding group of civil servants.
Guo Hongjing's brother Guo Shoujing assisted local officials in dredging water conservancy in Xingzhou at the age of eighteen, which was praised by the local people. Yuan Hao wrote an article praising him. Last year, when the Central Government was established, His Majesty appointed him to promote roads and canals. He was only twenty-nine years old.
age.
Such a family background is indeed the best choice for the Zhang family to marry...
"Second sister can marry into a good family."
"The Guo family is really good, stable and prosperous. My father chose his son-in-law with all his heart." Zhang Hongfan said: "But I didn't expect that the eldest sister is still unmarried at this age."
Zhang Hongdao said nothing and turned to look out the window, wondering whether she was married or not.
Zhang Hongfan added: "Sister, I have always been kind and gentle, how come you can..."
"Blame me?"
Zhang Hongdao turned his head and wanted to say something, but finally sighed helplessly and said: "I tried my best."
Zhang Hongfan said: "I don't mean to blame Fifth Brother."
Zhang Hongdao waved his hand and said: "I am not as capable as you and Liulang, so I can only stay at home. I didn't expect that I didn't even handle the family affairs properly. It's really me who should be blamed."
"As I said, I didn't mean it. My father asked me to come back to discuss how to deal with it with my fifth brother."
"I don't know what to do."
"Fifth brother, you haven't done anything in the past few months?"
"I cleaned up all the traces." Zhang Hongdao knocked on the table and said thoughtfully: "In the eyes of others, the eldest sister died in the fire at Fenglingdu."
"Really?" Zhang Hongfan held up the tea cup and said casually, "Fifth brother wants to fulfill the eldest sister's wish?"
"What else can I do?"
"That being the case, fifth brother didn't send anyone to arrange the marriage? Will the eldest sister be a direct descendant or a concubine if she joins Li Xia's family? Will she be wronged? My mother's family doesn't care about these issues at all?"
Zhang Hongdao asked: "Jiulang thinks we should come forward?"
"I'm asking what Fifth Brother's plan is." Zhang Hongfan said: "If you decide to marry Li Xia, then you will fully support this marriage, discuss how to deal with the Shi family, plan for Henan, and jointly carry out major events. Why bother to fake the eldest sister?
Death news? If you don’t support this marriage, then you will do your best to bring the eldest sister back..."
"If I don't have the ability, I secretly sent people to Guanzhong and Hanzhong, but no news has been sent back yet."
"What I'm asking about is Fifth Brother's attitude. There should be a decision whether to advance or retreat. How can a man be indecisive? Fifth Brother does nothing, has a vague attitude, and is undecided. In the end, Li Xiaruo won't be grateful to you if something happens, and so will your Majesty.
I blame you. I have wasted all the love that my eldest sister and son have for Li Xia, and I have dragged the Zhang family into disaster. I just sit there and wait for death."
Zhang Hongdao has realized the gap between himself and Jiulang.
But after thinking about it, he still said: "I... don't have an attitude."
"Why?"
"Beyond Kaifeng, Luoyang, and historians, the situation is still unclear."
Zhang Hongfan shook his head slightly, took a sip of tea, and said, "If I were the fifth brother, I would vote for Li Xia."
"Kuroro wants me to do this?"
"No, I just calculated from the fifth brother's point of view that I can vote. The best thing is to vote for Li Xia before I come."
"I don't have this determination. What do Kuro think?"
"I will die for Your Majesty."
"Recently, I see Li Xia..."
"I know Li Xia is very good." Zhang Hongfan said: "He has taken Guanzhong and has the potential to establish himself."
After these words, Zhang Hongdao was stunned and asked in surprise: "Jiulang thinks so highly of him?"
"It's time for him to rectify his reputation now. Only with a reputation can he gather momentum. For example, if he is crowned king, Fifth Brother will not feel that his evaluation is high."
When Zhang Hongfan said this, he shook his head and said: "But it's useless to be high. Your Majesty has treated me with too much kindness and honor, so I can no longer have distracting thoughts."
"Why?"
Zhang Hongfan hesitated to speak, and finally said: "A few years ago, Zhang Shijie committed a serious crime by killing Mongol Oulu, and decided to run south. Sixth brother sent him off, saying, 'Now that you have rebelled against Mongolia, you will not be allowed to serve in the Song Dynasty again in the future. Please treat me
Send troops south and never show mercy." Zhang Shijie replied, "If there is a day, I will die for the Song Dynasty." Our Zhang family is not like Li Quan and his son. We are nobles and value reputation. In troubled times, if the nobles want to survive, they must
Make a choice, but you cannot always make a choice. Every time you make a choice, it becomes harder for others to trust you, and the disaster of genocide is closer."
"What about the eldest sister?"
"If Fifth Brother has no other ideas, I will take her back."
"What if I can't come back? It's very difficult."
"Then the righteousness will be severed. The father will no longer recognize her as his daughter, and she will no longer be part of the Zhang family. This is not a cover-up, but a real expulsion of her from the family... It would be like crossing Zhang Shijie out of the family tree, and then killing her in person.
.Then, we will go and apologize to His Majesty."
"This is not as good as my method, let's wait and see..."
"Fifth brother, I have mentioned Li Fen twice, but you still don't understand? Does it mean that even Shi Tianze doesn't dare to pry into the situation anymore?"
"what for?"
"Let's put it bluntly." Zhang Hongfan shook his head and said, "Your Majesty told my father, 'Your fifth son is too clever.'"
Zhang Hongdao suddenly felt a chill running down his spine.
He once again recalled what Zhang Hongfan said, "Fifth Brother had better surrender to Li Xia before I come", "Sit back and wait for death", "'We' will go and plead guilty to His Majesty", and he felt a murderous intention.
Zhang Hongfan, however, remained calm and continued to speak.
"There is something very strange. My eldest sister has not arrived at Tongguan. Why did Shang Ting get the news and send people to block it? Why did the fifth brother fail to hide it from His Majesty when he was in Shanxi?"
"Who?!" Zhang Hongdao was startled and turned around to ask, "Who is staring at us? Shi Tianze? Zhang Wenqian?"
"Fifth brother, whether it's Shi Tianze or Zhang Wenlian, if you didn't kill anyone in Tongguan, Gu Nian Enyi will remind you once. Cleverness can kill people! I didn't want to say it so clearly, but fifth brother, don't you think so?
Do you think that Your Majesty is a merciful person if he spared the Zhang family once?"
Zhang Hongfan added: "The roots of the Zhang family are in Baozhou."
Zhang Hongdao turned pale instantly and was sweating profusely.
Zhang Hongfan lowered his head and said: "Take the eldest sister back so that I can protect the fifth brother's life..."