"Is it because the girl's poison hasn't been cured yet? Her appearance has changed? Why didn't you talk about this yesterday?"
"Yes, she said she still had some poison left, and she was so thin that her long hair turned into a handful of withered grass." The Xiaoxue she saw yesterday was completely different from the previous Xiaoxue in Xiao Jihuai's eyes.
"You have to marry even if you are an ugly person, you have to marry even if you are laughed at by the world! It's not that you don't know the reason, and I don't think your father would agree," the old man said.
"Xu Muxue may not be willing to marry me."
"Then make her willing to marry you."
"Can't we ask the Zhang family to replace them with someone else?"
"no!"
"Why?"
"Because she is Zhang Xingchu's heart; she is Zhang Zhiren's treasure; she is Xu Hanqing from the Ministry of Industry and the only daughter of Zhang Ling from Emei; she is a close disciple of Jinling Li Jichen; she is the brother of Quanzhen Zhang Mufeng. Is this reason enough? Zhang
Is there anyone like this at home? Not only do you want to win her person, but you also want to win her heart." The old man's name was Xiao Yuanzheng. He was lying on the bed, looking like he was dying.
"I know this." Xiao Jihuai said.
"Although I gave all the power of the Xiao family to your father, he is not as talented as you. The Xiao family will soon pass into your hands. Think about it for yourself. In terms of money, we can't compare to the Chen family; in terms of power,
, the prince and the Chen family share the court; in terms of military strength and the emperor's trust, we can't compare to the Zhang family! But if you can marry Xu Muxue, even if she brings half of the help, Jiang Zhu will have hope to compete for the heir apparent! Take a step back
Tell me, no matter who becomes emperor, if we join forces with the Zhang family, we will be invincible!" The old man finished this long sentence with great effort and began to pant.
"I understand." Xiao Jihuai lowered his head and said.
"You don't understand! Let me tell you, although this Northern Expedition is huge, the situation is about to change!"
"What changes?"
"Jiang Cong seems to be dying soon. The country is so weak and he is still fighting to the death. What can you tell from this?"
"The emperor wants to make his contribution and go down in history..."
"Wrong! What counts in history does not necessarily depend on merit, but also depends on his son or grandson! What if the successor does not let him leave his name in history? What's the use of his great achievements?"
"You mean..."
"Of course he wants to unify the country and fulfill his long-cherished wish in this battle, but his other purpose is to change the crown prince!"
"Grandpa, why do you see this?"
"Do you see what happened to Jiang Shan in this Northern Expedition? Jiang Shan has worked hard for thirty years, and his party members have already gathered in both the government and the public. Jiang Cong dare not touch him even if he wants to! Because there is no legitimate reason, the ministers oppose it, which hurts the country.
Ben, this is the situation that Jiang Cong least wants to see. I don’t know what happened between them and their son, but I guess that if they win this time, Jiang Cong’s prestige will reach an unprecedented level, and he will go to
If there is a serious trouble in the north, he will start to uproot the crown prince's foundation! Our opportunity has arrived!" Jiang Yuanzheng said.
"What if we lose?" Xiao Jihuai asked.
"Defeat? Yes, the Northern Zhou Dynasty was indeed drought-stricken for two years, but it still easily defeated the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which was also drought-stricken. Facing such an enemy, defeat is a normal thing! If we work together, the chance of winning is better, but you also
Clearly, the army is all members of the emperor, but secretly? There are people from King Cheng, people from us and the Zhang family, and now even the prince has secretly intervened. What chance do you think such an army has of winning?
Therefore, we should be prepared to fail!"
"Then what should we plan?" Xiao Jihuai asked.
"The world will be united if it is divided for a long time, and it will be divided if it is united for a long time! Our Xiao family's army may not be able to defeat the Northern Zhou Dynasty or the border towns, but it is precisely because we look weak that we do not face the enemy head-on. The Imperial Forest Army has already begun to move north, and Henan will be empty. By then the front line
If the army is defeated like a mountain, the only one who can support the Jiang family is our Xiao family! If we can ally with the already wounded Zhang family again, then Jiangnan won't have anything to worry about!" Xiao Yuanzheng's cloudy eyes suddenly glowed with a glimmer of longing.
"Are you saying that defeat is more beneficial to us?" Xiao Jihuai asked.
"Not just for us! There are also princes and the Chen family who have such thoughts! So we must prepare early."
"What do you mean, if the front line is defeated, we will still stand still?" Xiao Jihuai was a little unsure.
"Time means change. Of course, it depends on the situation. Don't think that the Ji army belongs to our Xiao family. King Cheng and the prince have already extended their hands. At that time, which troops will be mobilized will depend on the situation.
, your father will worry about this, what you have to do now is to get married to Xu Muxue as soon as possible!"
"I understand, but, but I find that she only has He Qizhou in her heart now! And..." Xiao Ji said with hatred.
"And Jiang Cong has begun to favor He Qizhou?"
"yes!"
"That's Jiang Cong's brilliance. Yang Zheng still has many party members hiding in the government and the public. He is showing his attitude to those people, especially the Quanzhen Sect! If Yang Zheng's party members help him, he can change Yuan Dingbei's
Goals are more likely to be successful!”
"Do I want to..." Xiao Chihuai raised his straight palm and made a knife-like cut.
"Hey, don't mess up because of a trivial matter! Doing him here is like squeezing an ant to death, but have you ever thought about it? How many enemies will this attract? Do you know that Taoist Priest Yuanbao killed Yang Zheng in order to trace
How many times has the murderer sneaked into my house? Is there any way you can stop him?"
"Yang Zheng's matter really has nothing to do with us?"
"I didn't send anyone, but I know something. Now is not the time to tell him."
"Then what should I do now?"
"Protect that boy across the river. After crossing the river, it has nothing to do with us. If Xu Muxue really cares about him, killing him now is equivalent to turning the Zhang family against us. Even if someone wants to touch him on our territory,
no!"
"Across the river?" Xiao Jihuai asked.
"Don't worry, someone will find a way to take his life. Sooner or later, he will follow Yang Zheng's old path. Remember, you must choose the most beneficial thing to do in everything."
"I know, Grandpa."
…
"Why did you lose the archery on purpose? Xiao Jihuai must have figured it out. Maybe it would make him even more unhappy." Xu Mu rode a snow dragon horse and walked slowly beside He Qizhou's car.
"I just didn't want to steal his limelight, but I didn't expect that he would hate me to death because of the imperial decree. What about you? Did you let him see your hair on purpose?" He Qizhou stuck his head out of the car window and asked in a low voice.
"Why don't you cut off all your hair? But I don't want to be a nun." Xu Mu smiled playfully. Although it was in men's clothing, it was still so warm that He Qizhou's heart felt numb.
"Hey, can you speak louder?" Jiang Damin stuck his head out from the compartment of the next car and called.
"Are you sober? You look like this. I'm really worried about Jiang Shuo." He Qizhou sighed.
"You should worry about yourself! Didn't you see Xiao Jihuai's face?" Jiang Damin said angrily.
"There seems to be something going on up front. I'll go take a look first." Suddenly there was a shout from the official road ahead. Xu Mu didn't want to listen to the nonsense from the two of them, so he stopped his horse and walked two steps quickly.
"I'll go too!" Jiang Damin hurriedly got out of the carriage and followed on horseback.
The two men galloped for about half a mile, and saw in the wasteland beside the official road, five government officials were pushing two men dressed as farmers to the ground. One of the officials was slapping the two of them, and the two were
The farmer cried out in pain.
"What's going on?" Xu Mu dismounted and walked into the field and asked.
The official stopped and asked, "Who are you?"
"I am a businessman from the past."
"The government is on errands, and idle people should stay away!" Seeing that the other party was not an official, the official began to hit him again, and cursed: "You bitch! I told you to run away again!"
"Sell! Sell! We'll sell them all to you!" The beaten farmer couldn't bear the pain and asked for mercy.
"Where are the things?" the official stopped and asked.
"Can you please let us go first?" a farmer begged. There were two government officials' knees on each farmer's back, holding them firmly to the ground.
"Tell me, where is it hidden?"
"Inside the shoe," the farmer cried.
A yamen servant immediately took off their cloth shoes, turned them upside down and shook them hard, and sure enough, two stacks of paper fell down. When Xu Mu took a look, he looked familiar, it seemed to be the deed from the Ministry of Works!
"This is 30% off silver! It belongs to his grandma, and he dares to refuse the money given by the government! Do you really don't want to live?" The official took off a cloth bag from his clothes and took out a handful of broken silver, about thirty taels of silver.
, weighed it, picked out a piece of silver, put it back into the bag, and then sprinkled the handful of silver on the back on the ground.
"Can you let us go?" a farmer begged.
"Let go? Master, I haven't slapped you enough! You are good at running away, aren't you? Do you think I have nothing to do?" The official raised his hand and was about to slap him again.
"Stop! Jiang Damin!" He Qizhou had also got out of the car at this time. Seeing this, he couldn't help but get angry and yelled to stop.
Jiang Damin couldn't bear it anymore. He stepped forward, grabbed the official's wrist that had fallen down with one hand, and gave the official a hard swing, knocking him to the ground.
The four government officials who held down the farmer immediately drew their swords and surrounded him. Seeing Jiang Damin's skill, they did not dare to move rashly for a moment.
"Officers, who are you when the government is handling the case? How dare you beat the imperial official?" The official who fell to the ground covered his painful wrist, got up and hid behind the government officials, and asked in a trembling voice.
"I am the head of the Cleaning Department of the Ministry of Punishment, can I take care of it? Who are you?" He Qizhou couldn't care less. He didn't expect that there would still be people who dared to defraud people close to the capital.
"The lower official is Zhao Kuan, the Prime Minister of Anyang County. May I ask if you have the fish talisman and official certificate?" Zhao Kuan asked. It is difficult for anyone to believe that the man in his twenties opposite is a six-year-old Beijing official.
"No!" He Qizhou replied angrily.
"Sir, these two are unruly people. If they don't teach you a lesson, they will lead the people into mischief. If you can't prove your identity, don't interfere with my handling of the case. I won't care about you anymore." Zhao Kuan saw He Qizhou and the others.
Five young and strong men did not dare to say harsh words.
"I'm in charge of this matter. Who gave the order to accept the contract at a 30% discount?" He Qizhou asked coldly.
"I am disciplining two gangsters, but you still want to interrogate me? Keep slapping me!" Zhao Kuan couldn't bear it anymore. In anger, he suddenly slapped the farmer in front of him hard, and the two government officials also waved their hands in response.