Emperor's Trophy

The Wanshou Festival has finally passed grandly and safely, and the Nishu case has also come to an end with the king of Qin cutting down the Tibetans and withdrawing the army, and the king of Xunyang County, Ji Huaiqing, abolished the noble and left the capital.Following the first auspicious snowfall, Jingli returned to peace and harmony.

The sky is high and the snow on the mountain road has been melted by the caravan horseshoe wheels along the way. Only the mountains beside the road are still covered with white snow, shining crystal light in the sun.

This generation is the only way from Haijin to the capital. Merchants from the south arrived at Haijin City through the canal, and then turned from Haijin to the capital by land.

Several convoys have just arrived at the post station and are unloading the entire team, getting off one after another.

A housekeeper quickly walked up to an old man who had just got off the car, and said in a low voice: "Master, the young master of the caravan next door, surnamed Zhou, said that he liked the silver perch we brought, and would like to buy some at a high price. "

The old man said: "Not for sale."

The butler looked distressed, and said in a low voice: "It doesn't look like an ordinary caravan. We brought a lot this time because we were afraid of freezing to death. It's not difficult to even it out..."

The old man was slightly surprised. After all, this butler has been with him for many years. He has seen all kinds of high-ranking officials and dignitaries. He has good eyesight. If he says that the other party is not like an ordinary caravan, it is obvious that the other party has extraordinary bearing.

He looked at the other party's caravan, and saw that the caravan was indeed the same high-saddle cart with a small flag with the word "Zhou" on it, and the goods were piled high, which seemed to be silk and satin.

The guards were all dressed in brown clothes, and they looked very capable. In addition, they were escorted by bodyguards from the Escort Bureau. The Escort Bureau is the most famous Yangwei Escort Bureau today. The bodyguards are tall and strong, with knives on their waists, and they walk vigorously. , Orders and prohibitions, seem to have the style of a sergeant.

But he saw a blue oilcloth cart on the other side lift the curtain, two young men got out of the car, the leader was wearing a sapphire blue straight jacket and a fox fur coat, with a smile on his face, gentle and amiable.

The latter one was wearing a green quilted arrow jacket, with a dagger around his waist and leather boots on his feet. In such a snowy day, he didn't wear a coat or cloak. Feng, when he got closer, his eyebrows were cut like knives, his eyes were like morning stars, they were really extraordinary.

The old man couldn't help admiring, no wonder the butler didn't dare to refuse in person, such a character.

But he saw the young man in the front step forward and bowed deeply to him, and said with a smile: "This old man, our brother is surnamed Zhou, and he is going to the capital with the caravan. I saw several large tanks of fresh fish in your caravan. , always use charcoal to keep warm, fresh and lovely. My brother asked curiously, and learned that it is a silver perch, which is very rare. I want to negotiate with the old man, and I am willing to buy two at a high price. I wonder if the old man can transfer us two?"

The old man saw that Young Master Zhou spoke politely, and the second young master standing behind him who was always smiling was also respectful, with proper manners, bright eyes, and a good impression in his heart, he also returned the courtesy and said: "You two young masters are more polite. Ordinarily, it is worthless to let the two tails be the two young masters, but we are going to the capital to visit relatives who have not been there for a long time. My relatives have loved this kind of fish since they were young. He has lived away from home for many years, so it is rare for us to go to Beijing. I didn’t bring much, so it’s really hard to transfer, so please invite the two young masters, Haihan.”

But seeing that the second young master was a little shy, he hurriedly bowed his hands and apologized again and again: "It turns out that the old man sent fish from thousands of miles away, and he has a deep friendship. It's the brat who is presumptuous. I shouldn't have made such an unreasonable request. I'm sorry." I'm sorry, sir, please forgive me."

The old man smiled and cupped his hands: "Don't dare to be a wealthy businessman of the Zhou family in Jin, who is famous all over the world. If there is a destiny in the future, the two masters will go to the south of the Yangtze River, and they can entertain the two young masters to taste this silver perch. Now the old man is bringing some dried silver with the convoy. The fish, however, is quite delicious, let the housekeeper send some to taste with you two later."

The young master Zhou in front smiled and cupped his hands: "Thank you for your forgiveness, I dare not accept the old man's gift for nothing. We also have some local products in return, which will delay the old man's rest and meal. Then we two brothers will not bother, and we will leave."

The two brothers returned to the car, and sure enough, the other party's housekeeper quickly sent someone to bring over two packages of dried whitebait, and taught him to give two boxes of ginseng in return, which made the other party's housekeeper generously rewarded.

Master Zhou covered his face with a smile and said: "Forget it, the dignified county king, this is the first time in this life that I have begged for food from someone. I haven't begged for it yet. Let people know that this is a shame. It's all because of you. This money Fish, quickly ask someone to cook it for you, if you don’t eat it up, don’t ask me to do something next time.”

It turned out that Ji Huaisheng, who was in charge of Zhou's family this week, went to Haijin City once on business, and was entangled by Yun Zhen, who was leading the imperial army's winter training there, and joined Zhou's family caravan to return to Beijing together.

Yun Zhen muttered: "I don't think the fish is so rare, I haven't seen the emperor for so long."

Ji Huaisheng smiled: "Three months of winter training, you have only left Beijing for fifteen days, and you sneaked back to Beijing. I think you are afraid of the emperor's blame, so you are thinking about how to coax the emperor? You really are not AWOL?"

Yun Zhen was confident and confident: "How can this be regarded as leaving without authorization? There are nine admirals here. I was supposed to conduct training on behalf of the emperor. After watching their training, I can go back to Beijing. It's just that the emperor said that it was cold and cold on the snowy road." It’s not easy to go. I heard that it’s been a rough year in recent years. I’m not allowed to go back. Now I’m going with your caravan and escorted by an escort. I’m fine. When I arrive in Beijing safely, the emperor has nothing to say—— It’s such a short distance, originally I took a few guards on horseback, and I arrived soon, it’s too slow to follow the caravan.”

Ji Huaisheng nodded with a smile and said, "I know that the emperor favors you, so I can't blame you anyway. If you go to Beijing this time to be cold and hungry, the emperor will annoy me again and give me some difficult and trivial errands. do you know?"

Yun Zhen snickered.

In the post station, the old man looked at the two ginseng gifts and sighed: "The Zhou family in Jin is indeed the richest in the world, and they are so generous."

The steward smiled and said, "I also rewarded the old slave with a golden leaf. I said that he is not like ordinary people. It seems that the princes and nobles are only so generous, especially when they are young, so they dare not return suddenly. They can only report to the uncle. Lord."

The old man sighed: "It is said that the younger generation of the Zhou family have traveled around with the caravan for business experience since they were ten years old. It is no wonder that there are such beautiful children in the family of merchants. The characters are outstanding, exquisite and transparent, and there are successors. The old man is really good. I'm envious."

The housekeeper comforted the old man and said: "The two sons seem to have made progress now, uncle need not be so sad."

The old man smiled bitterly: "I know that the emperor doesn't like people who are deep and ingenious, and they are juniors, innocent and simple. The emperor will always take care of them for the sake of his sister in the past. Who would have thought that accidents would happen one after another as soon as they entered Beijing, not only almost... …I lost the tribute, and now I can even be implicated in the case of rebellion, although the emperor just taught them a lesson, but I can't sit in the south of the Yangtze River, so I can only go to Beijing in person to plead guilty to the emperor."

It turned out that this old man was indeed today's uncle, Cheng Enbo Tan Xilin.

The housekeeper had no choice but to comfort him: "The emperor just taught me a light lesson, but I know he is still willing to take care of it. If you ignore it and just let them run amok, then it will be troublesome. I heard that this rebellion case has involved a lot of people."

Uncle Cheng En let out a long sigh. Those old grievances buried decades ago, no one knows about them except the dead queen mother, but the emperor will never forget them.

He has been on the throne for 18 years. Except for his grace to Cheng Enbo, no one in the Tan family has been rewarded, and none of the Tan family's children have been promoted to serve as errands.He was in Jiangnan and did not dare to enter Beijing, and the emperor never mentioned letting them enter Beijing. He stayed in Jiangnan for more than ten years.

He didn't do anything anymore, and the Tan family fell silent.