When the actors on the stage saw that the magistrate had a guest, they all stopped and stood there blankly, not knowing whether to step back or continue singing. Zhang Yi said with a smile: "Go ahead, change to something more festive, and sing "Journey to the West"."
The actors on the stage hurriedly retreated to paint their faces and change their makeup. After a while, Monkey King jumped onto the stage, and the sound of gongs and drums resounded sonorously.
This play is a miscellaneous play that existed in the Yuan Dynasty. The layout and characters are still rough, but the details of the story are similar to the "Journey to the West" that Ye Xiaotian has heard. Wu Chengen's book is a collection of former sages. Created in one, it doesn't feel strange to look at it.
After watching the play for a while, Zhang Yi said to Ye Xiaotian with a smile: "Two days ago, a man named Xu Boyi passed by Tongren Mansion and came to visit me specially."
Ye Xiaotian said: "Ah! It's him, he is the new magistrate of Hu County. It is said that he has a very close relationship with the Tian Mansion, and your teacher is also a descendant of the Tian family. Since he passed by Tongren, it is reasonable for him to visit his teacher."
Zhang Yi smiled and said: "Yes, I can ignore him, but the Tian family can't help but give him face, so I interviewed him. When I asked him about the current imperial examination, he specifically mentioned you, ha ha, I see him It seems that I have some trouble with you."
Ye Xiaotian said: "Students and Xu Boyi do have some issues."
Ye Xiaotian told the story of how he had a grudge with Xu Boyi when he was in Huxian County, and said: "He was a very decent scholar, but I made him so gentle, how could he not hate him, so after meeting me in Guiyang , and tried to plot against me time and time again."
Ye Xiaotian turned to Zhang Yi, smiled and said, "I guess Xu Boyi didn't know about my relationship with my mentor, so he dared to slander me unscrupulously in front of my mentor?"
Zhang Yi looked at Monkey King on the stage doing somersaults, narrowed his eyes, and said with a smile: "Some people say that the person who knows you best is often the one who wants to plot against you. It's pretty clear."
Ye Xiaotian said: "Oh?"
Zhang Yidao: "He knows very well that you are a scholar I personally recorded, so instead of slandering you in front of me, he praised you a lot. But... he is insincere and reluctant, can't I see it?"
Ye Xiaotian was a little surprised when he heard this, not only because Xu Boyi knew so much about him, but also because of Zhang Yi's shrewdness.
Zhang Yi's body is obese, of course it can't be faked, but who stipulates that a person who is fat like this must have a brain full of fat? It's true that he's arty, that his poems don't make sense, and that he thinks he's smart, but he's not a fool.
Zhang Yi frowned, and said: "This person is too scheming, and he is also greedy for power. I don't like him very much. Alas! The Tian family was caught in the schemes of the Emperor Taizu, and their vitality was seriously injured. All these years, they have been thinking about returning to their ancestors. I think Lian Xieji is a bit unscrupulous because of her eagerness."
Ye Xiaotian sympathized and said: "Students think so too. Xu Boyi is a man who has a milk and is a mother. He has no integrity at all. Today he can join the Tian family, but in the future, as long as someone promises him more benefits, he can also betray him." Tian family."
Zhang Yi tapped lightly on the armrest with his fat fingers, and said with a smile: "That's right! Lian Xieji asked him to go to Hu County, it should be a test for him, to test whether this person is worthy of great use, if available, You will do your best to cultivate him, so this is your last chance to deal with it!"
Ye Xiaotian humbly asked for advice: "What does the teacher mean?"
Zhang Yi said: "I'm afraid the feud between you will not be solved. And once he has the full support of the Tian family, how can you defeat him? Now that it is a test for him by the Tian family, you won't intervene too much , you might as well do your best, as long as he collapses, he will be useless, and the Tian family will naturally abandon him."
Although Ye Xiaotian called out "Mentor" one by one, he didn't believe that just because Zhang Yi appointed him as a scholar, how deep a mentor-student relationship was really established between the two. Zhang Yi is also from the Tian family, but he plans for him wholeheartedly, hoping that he will destroy a person who the Tian family wants to reuse
Ye Xiaotian tentatively said: "The student is going to Hu County. It is Ren Dianshi, and Xu Boyi is the student's immediate boss. It is difficult to fight from the bottom! One more thing, to tell my teacher, when Xiaotian was in Guiyang, he once met a woman. Only after the two fell in love, did they know that she was the eldest lady of the Xia family in Hongfeng Lake.
Although the student fought with Xu Boyi because of their personal grievances, would the Tian family mistake the student for the Xia family? The Tian family is much more powerful than the Xia family, if the Tian family intervenes because of this, the students will have no chance of winning. "
Fatty Zhang said with a smile: "I said before, this is a test for Xu Boyi by the Tian family, to test his ability. Since it is for such a purpose, the Tian family will not interfere. You don't have to worry that the Tian family will come forward to replace Xu Boyi." Pick it up."
Ye Xiaotian half-jokingly said: "If this is the case, the student can rest assured. However, in the eyes of outsiders, the student is a member of the Xia family, but you, the teacher, are from the Tian family. If the teacher supports the student so much, the Tian family will not mistakenly think that you have taken refuge in him." Xia family, is it inconvenient for you?"
Fatty Zhang burst out laughing, shaking his fat hands and said: "No, no, there are hundreds of chieftains in Guizhou, each with its own territory, each with its own influence, and it has been like this for thousands of years. The pattern is already unbreakable.
My Tongren mansion is surrounded by forces loyal to the Tian family. I want to join the Xia family. Not to mention that the surrounding Tian faction forces do not agree, even many of my subordinates will not agree. For thousands of years, the chieftains in our Tian family have been married and fused with each other. The relationship has long been intertwined and cannot be cut with a knife. Unless I am crazy, the Tian family will not believe that I will betray. "
Fatty Zhang picked up the tea, took a sip with a smile, and said: "The chieftains have to fight, that is, to fight for who is stronger and who ranks higher. There will be no harm to each other. Oh! By this point, I am referring to those big chieftains. After all, trees attract wind and cannot act rashly. As for the small chieftains, it is not the case, such as the two chieftains in Huling... "
Fatty Zhang took a sip of tea, put down his teacup, shook his head and sighed: "Since the opening of the post road, Huxian County has become the northern gate of our Guizhou, but there are two hereditary small chieftains there, so no big chieftain has ever fought." The idea there, why do you think it is
Because, no matter how young he is, he is still a chieftain. The situation in Guizhou has remained unchanged for thousands of years, because a very stable relationship has long been formed between the big and small chieftains, just like the stage in front of us... "
Fatty Zhang pointed to the stage, and said: "The four beams and eight pillars are the four heavenly kings, the eight kings, and other chieftains, large and small, which are the foundation stones below. The stage fell.
So... no chieftain dares to take the big taboo and break the rules. Whoever breaks the rules is the public enemy of the chieftains. But the imperial court is different. The imperial court, a giant, has been trying to tear down our stage since the time of Emperor Taizu, and build a small pavilion for the emperor and his family to enjoy the scenery here.
The two chieftains fought fiercely because of the land dispute, but the court took advantage of the vacancy, deposed the two chieftains, and set up a county to send exile officials. What would happen if the court succeeded? That would be like taking out two bricks under the stage and driving in another wedge!
If this wedge is left there properly, it can serve the purpose of the two bricks before it rots away. But there is still a strong man of the imperial court standing by the stage, constantly smashing the wedge with a sledgehammer. The wedge was smashed in, and he wanted to use this wedge to pry the stage down. So, the chieftains cast their eyes here one after another, but... Who pulled out that wedge and built two bricks on it, but it is not very reused, do you understand? "
Ye Xiaotian understood that the imperial court has always wanted to change the political structure of Guizhou and bring it under his direct control. There are certainly problems among the hundreds of chieftains in Guizhou, but their internal competition is only for who is stronger, ranked higher, and has greater influence, and strives for more resources for their families.
But no one has the strength to destroy other chieftains. Even if they have the strength, they dare not act rashly, setting off the "Warring States Era" in Guizhou, and playing games with each other until the only king is determined.
Because there is a more powerful force eyeing them, and that is the imperial court. For thousands of years, despite the change of dynasties in the Central Plains, there will always be a strong centralization. For thousands of years, among the chieftains in Guizhou, there are many outstanding people who have the ambition to eliminate all the chieftains, but I am the only one. However, because the lion of the imperial court is watching from the side, the power structure here has never changed.
Now that the imperial court has accelerated its penetration into Guizhou, all chieftains feel the crisis. They are both competitors and partners. They want to take this enclave into their own hands, and they want to work together to push out the imperial court's protruding hand.
Therefore, before no one can control Hu County, they will scramble to do it first, but once someone does it first, they will turn from competitors to this person's supporters, and try their best to protect him and prevent the court from taking advantage of it.
Thinking of this, Ye Xiaotian nodded slowly, and said: "Student understands, thank you teacher for your guidance."
Zhang Yi waved his hand and said with a smile: "It's good to understand, so, go to Huxian, do it well and do it boldly. Huxian is the north gate of Guizhou, and it is the front gate of Tongren. I don't like Xu Boyi." I like it, I prefer you to stay there."
Ye Xiaotian stood up and bowed to the ground.
Zhang Yi said: "You go, go and talk to Li Zhongyin first, hehe, the old man robbed his favorite student, this old guy doesn't say anything, he must be very resentful in his heart, the old man will go there later."
Ye Xiaotian respectfully said: "Yes! The student will leave."
A little maid walked by and led Ye Xiaotian to the living room, Zhang Yi turned to the stage and watched the play with relish. After a while, a woman with a light dew and a white dress, with an extremely graceful figure, came out slowly from behind the stage.
Fatty Zhang tried his best to pull himself up, then sat down discouraged, and was about to ask someone to pull him out of the chair, when the woman in the light headband smiled lightly: "Uncle Zhang, you can just sit down. In front of you, why are you being polite?"
As the woman said, she walked over coquettishly, a maid hurriedly stepped forward, wiped the chair Ye Xiaotian was sitting on with a handkerchief, and then turned to stand behind the chair, and the woman sat down gracefully.
Zhang Yi shyly had a big belly like a mountain of meat, and said to the woman: "Miaowen, Xu Boyi is the person you want to use, why do you ask me to encourage Ye Xiaotian to fight Xu Boyi? It can't be...he is the one." Someone you really want to use?"
The woman raised her head slightly, revealing her pointed, white and tender jaw, and said with a light smile, "How is it possible? Ye Xiaotian is about to become the son-in-law of the Xia family. It is impossible for me to use him. I just want to use him to try." Let's try to see if Xu Boyi is a material that can be made, and if he can't make it, then forget it."
Zhang Yi said: "Touchstone? If he tries to find out that Xu Boyi is just a piece of scrap iron, but he controls Huxian County, then it's not like stealing chickens, but eating a handful of rice."
Tian Miaowen was wearing a light dew, so she couldn't see her face clearly at first, but the slight fluctuation of the drape on the light dew made people clearly feel that there was an extremely charming smile on her face.
She smiled at Zhang Yi, turned her head to look at the stage, and said lightly: "What does it matter? As long as it is not in the hands of the court."
Fatty Zhang rubbed his fat three-tiered chin, and thought: "Is this really the case? Then what are you doing here, hey! This girl is no longer hugging someone's neck, twisting like a twist, entangled Uncle Fatty wants a sweet little girl, she has grown up..."