Zhang Bianguan raised his head slowly, with tears streaming down his face, he said in a trembling voice: "Father, you always climb high and look far away, say the loudest things in the world, and do the most daring things in the world. But have you forgotten?" , look back at us children?"
Zhang Julu didn't turn his head to look at the young boy, and said with a sneer, "Why, are you afraid? That's right, no one in the world is afraid of death. Even those honest officials who always ask their families to prepare coffins and die generously are also afraid of death. I have no reason Thinking of an interesting incident, some ministers who have been thrown into prison may be rare and really not afraid of death, but they are even more afraid of dying inexplicably. Almost everyone writes their suicide notes with charcoal on the wall of the prison. I don’t know that a charcoal pencil in the prison can cost hundreds of taels of silver to buy. The poorer ones can’t help them. They can still write epic blood books with their fingers dipped in blood. Your eldest brother is rigid If you can’t do the most prestigious thing, your second brother is a little bit smarter, if you are lucky enough to become a noble official, you want to do it but you don’t dare. As for you opening the border, you probably don’t care about it?”
Zhang Bianguan stood up and snatched the small stove from Zhang Julu's hand, and smashed it hard into the snow below the steps. The raging coals rolled out of the stove quickly dissipated.
Zhang Julu didn't care about his son's "disobedience" behavior.
Not to mention lick the calf, or even to hand-serve three bowls of severed head rice to his sons, even if they were to punch his father, who is now the chief patron.
Zhang Julu turned his head slowly, looked at the young son with a livid face, and asked, "Do you really think that your elder brother and second elder brother don't know the situation at all? Do you really think they don't know the ending of the Zhang family? I will only let you, Zhang Bianguan, be smart for the rest of your life. Can't they be smart once?"
Zhang Julu withdrew his gaze and said with a sneer, "Then you are too self-righteous. Zhang Bian, my son, is the one who cares the most, but your two elder brothers, pedantic and pedantic, are you really stupid? No matter how simple it is, it will be enlightened early."
Zhang Bianguan knelt down and murmured: "Back then you insisted that our three sons marry wives only from small families. You were waiting for this day, right? If it was a woman from a noble family, there would be more people involved in the disaster. When the time comes, His Majesty the Emperor will kill people, and he will be timid. You are really a once-in-a-lifetime chief minister of conscience, and you will not embarrass the monarch sitting on the dragon chair. The elder sister-in-law and the second sister-in-law are both good at running the family. Even if you have gained the favor of the Zhang family, you have made a lot of money in the open and in the dark, and you have vaguely become a local nobleman. You make an exception and turn a blind eye to this. Hey, you are thinking of making your conscience feel better. Bar?"
Zhang Julu didn't speak.
Zhang Bianguan rubbed his cheeks, looked at the small stove left by his grandfather in the snow, and said softly: "Father, in order to be a good official, from the beginning when I was with my grandparents, I didn't want to be a good son. Then he was not a good husband, and then he was not a good father when we came here, and in the end, he was not even a good grandfather. Is it really worth it?"
Zhang Julu raised his hands, took a breath of mist, and said with a smile, "Good officer?"
Zhang Julu was in a daze. He still remembered that Tan Tanweng, his best friend, once said some drunken words. For himself, it is easy to be a loyal and traitorous official, and it is easy to be an honest and dishonest official. Only a good official who is caught between the king and the people is the most difficult to be. It's hard to say clearly. It is very difficult to settle the affairs of the king, but it is even more difficult to win the fame in life and after death.
Zhang Julu suddenly said: "When I was young, I read a frontier poem by an unknown person, in which there was a line 'Walk west to reach the sky, go west and feel the sky is low', I was particularly fascinated, always thinking that one day if the officialdom is not happy At worst, it would be worthwhile to invest your pen in the army and see the wild and low-lying scenery of Bianguan with your own eyes. It’s just that your official career was stable later, and after your mother gave birth to you, she named you ‘Bianguan’.”
For some reason, Zhang Bianguan calmed down a lot, squeezed out a smiling face and laughed at himself: "Because of this unreal name, I have been ridiculed by the second generation ancestors in the capital for so many years, saying that you, the chief assistant, might as well choose Zhang Taian or Zhang Jingcheng."
Zhang Julu walked down the steps with a smile, bent down to pick up the small stove, picked up the iron tongs, put some charcoal into it, handed it back to the young boy, and said softly: "I know you guys have been cold-hearted for many years, dad also Can't do anything."
Zhang Bianguan was stunned and forgot to speak.
Zhang Julu beckoned, asked the steward to move another small bench, sat down and asked, "The reason for this trip, is it because Man'er asked you for a letter of divorce? Feeling depressed? Marry a chicken?" After so many years of marrying a chicken and a dog, but abandoning you at this juncture? Is there a kind of aggrieved feeling that the husband and wife are originally in the same forest and the bird is about to fly separately?"
Zhang Bianguan, who was asked several questions in succession, shook his head and said, "I don't mind if she does this."
Zhang Julu hesitated to speak, and finally said: "Don't annoy her, she is the most difficult of the three daughter-in-laws of the Zhang family. It's hard for her to be the villain. Such a smart and kind-hearted girl, our Zhang family can't help her. .”
Zhang Bianguan looked straight at the father, who asked back, "Do you understand?"
Zhang Bianguan suddenly remembered something, and suddenly choked up.
When a woman is ruthless, she is the worst offender.
When a woman is infatuated, she is the most touching.
Zhang Bianguan seemed to have untied the knot in his heart, and nodded vigorously.
Zhang Julu asked with a smile: "Then Tan Tanweng always said that even if there is an eternal name behind him, it is better to have a glass of wine in his lifetime. I have never believed it in the past, why don't we have a few drinks today?"
Zhang Bianguan would naturally not refuse.
So the biggest official in the capital and the most unpromising dandy in Tai'an City, such a pair of eccentric fathers, sat across the stove from each other on a small bench, drinking wine slowly, with the flagon placed on the edge of the stove.
Zhang Bianguan said, "Father, no one blames you."
Zhang Julu took a sip of his wine and remained silent.
One cup after another, the father and son just drank like this.
The steward tiptoed over to bring the second jug of wine, and conveniently brought Mr. Shoufu a thick fur to put it on.
Zhang Bianguan staggered away drunk at the end, Zhang Julu delivered it to the gate of the mansion, and finally gave the fur coat to his son to wear.
Zhang Julu stood on the steps, stretched out his hand to catch some snowflakes, and held them in the palm of his hand.
The world is helpless and people are helpless. When you can say it, you don't want to say it. When you want to say it, you can't say it.
…
Maybe half a year ago, no one would have believed that the Xichu navy could present the imposing posture of a lion fighting a rabbit against the downstream Guangling navy like it is today.
Like an arrow on the string, it just waits to go down the current and head straight for Chunxue Tower.
Even at this moment in the night, under the light of the lights, the majestic buildings and giant ships exude a ferocious aura of war. Presumably every elderly survivor of Western Chu will feel uncomfortable seeing this scene. For the past 20 years, the world has only heard that Beiliang's iron cavalry is the best in the world. Do you still remember the magnificent Chu Chu Navy in the past? In recent months, there have been many elderly survivors walking or driving to the riverside to look at the scene from a distance, or kneeling or bowing, all of them shed tears, and then left laughing like crazy, and returned home to tell their old friends .
Cao Changqing personally dispatches the navy!
The ship Shenhuang was named after the capital of Dachu. A middle-aged Confucian scholar in green clothes, who was looking at the picture with a lamp, raised his head, lightly extinguished the light, walked out of the cabin on the top floor, looked towards the right bank of Guangling River, and saw a cavalry army with different uniforms from the navy suddenly appeared, and then The leading knight and several retinues crossed the river leisurely in a small boat. There was a tall and slender man standing proudly on the prow of the boat. It was probably the so-called Yushu Linfeng that women like. As the boat approached, the knight's face became clearer in the lights. He was resolute and conceited, full of heroism, and lacked a bit of gentlemanly gentleness. However, this young man really couldn't ask for anything more. Within a month, he trampled down the territory that the vassal king Zhao Yi had painstakingly managed for more than ten years. It would be strange if he was just a gentle and kind scholar.
Song Yuanhang, one of the deputy commanders of the Great Chu Navy, stood beside the Confucian scholar in Tsing Yi. After seeing the unexpected guest, he did not hide his displeased expression. Not only him, but the naval generals who came out of the cabins one after another on the lower floors of the Shenhuang Tower ship did not have a good impression of this young man. annoying. How respectful and frugal is Pei Sui, who is also a son of a wealthy family like Da Chu and who made great contributions earlier? If you, Kou Jianghuai, were not the one who was in command of the navy to help you smooth things over, you would have rolled up and returned to Shangyin Academy to read your book of war under the scolding. In the past, you have disrupted the layout several times and made arbitrarily advocating the deployment of troops and generals. Not to mention that, when you visit the navy tonight, you kid didn't even say hello? Is it true that without you, Kou Jianghuai, the Great Chu would not be able to accomplish great things
The next scene made the naval commanders on the ship even more furious.
Kou Jianghuai did not board the building boat to meet Cao Changqing, the commander in chief of the three armies of Great Chu, but stood on the prow of the small boat with his sword in his hand, looked up at the Tsing Yi, and asked his name in a deep voice, "Cao Changqing, why don't you I ate Song Li's 6,000 soldiers that fell into his pocket?!"
Cao Changqing, with frosty temples, looked at the young man in silence.
The tall and tall Kou Jianghuai did not realize that he was talking to Da Chu after Ye Baikui's second Dinghai God target, and his words were angry and dissatisfied, almost asking questions, "The battle opportunity is fleeting, and Song Li is not ignorant of it." Idiot in military affairs, wait until he has gained a firm foothold on the Eastern Front and straightened out the infighting in Chun Xuelou, then I want to go all out."
"Kou Jianghuai, you are already General Kou at this time. As for the imperial decree to dismiss you from office, you will receive it a few days later, but it is the same whether it arrives early or late."
"Cao Zhangqing!"
"I, Kou Jianghuai, thought that Da Chu still had two and a half people who knew how to use soldiers, enough to fight for world hegemony. Since there are only half of them left tonight, there is no hope of restoring the country. It doesn't matter if I become an official or not. I want to keep my eyes open to see if that half can help you take down the Chunxue Building!"
Kou Jianghuai threw his sword into Guangling River angrily.
The boat turned around and left.
Song Yuanhang asked softly: "Master Shangshu, is this kid out of his mind?"
Cao Changqing smiled and said: "Not crazy, Kou Jianghuai is very clear-headed, and his views on the situation on the Eastern Front are also correct."
"this… "
"It's just that what Kou Jianghuai didn't know was that he was blinded by a leaf."
"Master Shangshu, what do you say?"
"I, Cao Changqing, should not only focus on Chunxuelou and Zhao Yi as the leader of the Eastern Front that I want. If it stops here, Xie Xizhen will be able to do what he calls a half-person."
The senior official in Tsing Yi looked down at the Guangling River flowing eastward, in a daze.
You, Kou Jianghuai, should see farther, it should be the city of Tai'an.