However, in the almost empty Hanlin Academy, two travel-worn old faces appeared. One was Mr. Yuan, who had been depressed for many years, and the other made the official on duty almost roll his eyes. When the two teachers of the Song family dominated the literary world, the official was praised by everyone, both in front of and behind him, for being a young phoenix of the Song family. Now, not only were the two teachers dead, there was no glory to speak of. Who did not know that the Song family, which had been endlessly glorious, certainly had no chance to make a comeback? A featherless young phoenix was worse than a chicken. Who would be willing to treat Song Keli, who was demoted to a poor county magistrate, as a scallion? If such a cold stove could still make a comeback, I would eat all the ashes of the stove!
This seventh-grade Qingliu official did not put on too much airs. After all, Yuan Piao, Yuan Huangmen, who had gone out to visit his relatives, still had a position in the Hanlin Academy. They would see each other frequently. There was no need for him to lose the merit that he had accumulated over many years for Song Keli.
Yuan Pu, or Yuan Benxi, the master of the Emperor of Liyang, sat down in his room. His half-inch-long tongue was naturally unclear, "Don't you want to go to the Imperial College? That's the place where your Song family rose. "
Song Keli, who had traveled with Mr. Yuan, shook his head and said calmly, "It's useless to revisit the old place."
Yuan Benxi was silent for a moment and said slowly, "Chen Wang, Sun Yin, will be your political enemy from now on. They won't lose to you in terms of achievements and knowledge. But they took the initiative to come out in the open. This is your biggest disadvantage, but also your only advantage. "
Song Keli nodded.
— —
In the dusk, in the yamen of the Zhao Family, which was not far from the Hanlin Academy, a tall old man with purple beard and blue eyes walked to the Imperial Street alone. He stood in the middle of the most magnificent and wide street in the world, with his back to the gate of the imperial city, and looked at the sky in the south.
The old man remembered a chance encounter when he was young. At that time, that man was also very young, and at least he wasn't crippled.
At that time, he was deliberately forced to stay in the Hanlin Academy by his master, and his best friend was already in charge of the Ministry of War. The other Jinshi of the same year also had a bright future. It was a time when the literati were overwhelmed by the military. Ten years ago, literati were like performers who could only answer to the generals in the imperial court. If it was a few decades ago, the dynasty was full of warring towns and people were divided into territories. Literati couldn't even answer to the generals. If they didn't flatter the right people, or if they flattered well but were misunderstood by the generals, they might be beheaded. In such a dynasty, not to mention the orthodox Great Chu of the Central Plains, even Dongyue, who was willing to be slaves to the Great Chu, was qualified to laugh at the northern neighbor as a group of uncivilized barbarians, not to mention the orthodox Great Chu of the Central Plains. Because of his purple beard and blue eyes, even the barbarians of Liyang in the eyes of the Central Plains people had to mock and ridicule him.
It was a gloomy day in late autumn when a certain scholar's life was finally getting better. He went to the Ministry of War to ask his friend to open the back door and borrow a map of the two vast territories. When he got the map as he wished, it was raining heavily. He didn't dare to let the rain wet the map, so he had to take shelter under the eaves of the yamen. But the heavy rain didn't stop, so he could only wait patiently. Then he saw a young man arrive with an umbrella and a small wooden chest in his hand. He didn't like this person because he had a strong warrior's aura. Judging from his attire, he was probably a military officer with a surplus rank who the imperial court turned a blind eye to. The Ministry of War's yamen courtyard was deep and had several entrances. He guessed that this person would be stopped at the first courtyard. As expected, the guy was stopped at the first courtyard, so he didn't pay much attention to him. But when he was waiting for the rain, he occasionally turned his head and glanced at him. He saw the ordinary-looking young warrior standing alone in the heavy rain, his umbrella by his feet. There was also the open chest, shining with white light, which should be silver. But this little bit of silver was nothing in the eyes of the old master of the Ministry of War, whose appetite could swallow the sky. It was just a matter of drinking with three or four colleagues.
He vaguely heard the words of the young man who was refused entry, which were repeated over and over again. "I, Xu Xiao, promise you with my head! Just give me one thousand soldiers a month. Just one month, the next time I visit you, I will have someone bring ten chests, ten chests of gold! "
The rain continued to fall. He heard the young man in the courtyard speak loudly and compromise constantly.
From one thousand soldiers, it was reduced to eight hundred, then to five hundred. And the chest also increased from ten chests to twenty chests, then to thirty chests.
When the rain finally lessened, perhaps because the old men of the Ministry of War who were leisurely drinking tea and chatting felt that it was about time to go home, there were groups of two or three important people who walked out of the courtyard one after another. They chatted and laughed, not looking sideways as they brushed past the young man. Later, a manager finally took a look, but not at the young man who was asking for soldiers and horses. Instead, he looked at the silver soaked in rainwater in the chest. He let out a snort of laughter and seemed to say something sarcastic, but at the time, he was hiding from the crowd at the door and did not hear it clearly.
He thought that since the rain hadn't completely stopped, he might as well wait for his friends in the courtyard to finish their business.
Perhaps it was true that there was always a way out. He saw an old man wearing a tiger and leopard patch walking out of the courtyard with his hands behind his back. Beside him was an official from the Ministry of War who was eagerly holding an umbrella. The umbrella was tilted towards the old man.
When the old man passed by the young man, he stopped and kicked the chest with his foot. Because the rain was much lighter, he could clearly hear the conversation between the two of them.
"Where are you from?"
"This general is Xu Xiao, from Jinzhou of Liaodong!"
"You lost the battle?"
"Yes! But this general has seven hundred brothers and defeated two of Hong Chengqiu's main battalions, one of which was cavalry … "
"What main force? What cavalry? It's all nonsense. A loss is a loss. This official will only ask you one thing. This official will treat it as a small gamble for fun and give you some men. But can you really earn back your losses? "
"Yes!"
"Well, fine. This official will give you a tiger tally. You can go to the Right Guard and transfer three hundred men. As for the chests, by the way, how many did you say you carried?"
"Sir, it's thirty."
"Thirty?"
"Fifty!"
"Oh, you're quite smart. Fine, this official will give you three hundred men. Remember to bring the chests directly to my residence later. "
"Thank you, sir! This general will live up to your kindness! "
"Oh, I almost forgot. What's your name? This official doesn't want to not know who to look for when I want to kill someone. "
"Xu Xiao of the Jinzhou Battalion!"
Finally, the big boss from the Ministry of War walked out of the yamen gate. Beside him was the official who held the umbrella for him with one hand and carried the chest with the other.
He saw the young general standing in the rain with his fists clenched. His back was straight, but there was an extra tiger tally in his hand.
The young man put the tiger tally into his pocket, bent down to pick up the umbrella, and turned to walk to the gate.
He had already looked away when the young general picked up the umbrella. He looked down and faced the south.
The latter didn't rush to open the umbrella. Instead, he stopped under the eaves of the gate and seemed to see him. He took the initiative to ask with a smile, "Are you still waiting for the rain to stop?"
He stared blankly for a moment, then nodded.
Then that fellow grinned at him and threw the umbrella over without giving him a chance to refuse. He walked down the steps in large strides, stepped into the mud, and gradually walked away.
That day, Zhang Julu remembered the name of that young warrior.
Xu Xiao.
That year, the era name of Eternal Hui hadn't been used.
Of the two young men he met, one wasn't the powerful Grand Secretary of the imperial court, and the other wasn't a great general with unconferred merits.
Nor were they political enemies who had no dealings with him.
At the end of the first year of Auspicious Talisman, only Zhang Julu, an old man, was left.
The old man standing on the imperial road slowly came to his senses. He smiled and muttered to himself, "I don't like to drink. If I can meet you underground, I'll have to buy you a drink. But before that, let me hold the umbrella for Beiliang. Not for you, Xu Xiao, but for the people of Beiliang and Liyang. "
— —
At the end of the auspicious year, Emperor Zhao Tuan returned to the capital.
The Imperial Censorate and the six departments jointly impeached one person.
Grand Secretary Zhang Julu of Liyang issued an edict and the imperial court announced the ten great crimes. The Emperor issued an edict to execute nine generations.
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