On 10 July, the rainy Shandong region finally cleared up, and the turbid waters of the Yellow River roared eastward, and the canal from Liaocheng to Jining in Shandong Province was brought in a large amount of sediment due to the sudden rise of the Yellow River, causing the river to be congested. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is a transportation link between the north and the south, and the number of grain ships that come and go every day is not known, so the local government does not dare to slack off, and organizes the workers to dredge the river day and night. As of today, the canal has basically been cleared.

At this time, a large building boat is sailing on the canal in the Dezhou section, because it is going northward against the current, coupled with the headwind, so the speed is very slow, the sail has been lowered, and it is all rowed forward by dozens of slurries on both sides.

At this moment, on the second floor of the boat, the three girls of the Fei family are leaning on the railing to watch the scenery on both sides of the canal.

"Finally, the weather is clear, and if it rains for a few more days, people will feel moldy." Fei Xiaoyu happily spun around in place, her pink skirt fluttering like a pink butterfly.

Fei Ruyi wore a light green jacket skirt with a placket collar, leaning on the railing quietly, the sun shining on her pretty face, her pink skin exuding a luster like mutton fat jade, quiet and picturesque.

This place is already very close to the capital, and in a few days you will be able to see the man who has been worried about him day and night for two years, Fei Ruyi's mood is joyful and nervous, and his left hand is holding a fragrant cheek and looking at the distant mountains, and his heart has flown to the capital hundreds of miles away.

Fei Jixiang was obviously in a good mood, holding a drawing board and casually writing about the scenery on both sides of the strait. In fact, after learning that the marriage with the Wei family was stranded, Fei Jixiang's mood was inexplicably relaxed, and she continued to live a carefree life as a boudoir girl, as for her marriage, she never worried, she believed that her parents would eventually choose a good husband for herself, and then she would only need to put on her wedding dress and sit in a sedan chair.

"Oh no, turn the rudder!"

Suddenly, there was a loud shout from the bow of the ship, and then the hull of the ship suddenly tilted, and it turned sharply to the right-hand side. The girls who were leaning on the railing were caught off guard and couldn't help but exclaim in unison, Fei Xiaoyu stood unsteadily, and subconsciously grabbed the girl ring next to her to watch the chess, but the two fell on the board at the same time. Fei Ruyi was okay, grabbed the railing, but avoided falling down in embarrassment, and Fei Jixiang, who was holding the drawing board, was even worse than Fei Xiaoyu, the drawing board fell into the river, and he also fell into a fart.

"How can this be reasonable, how to drive the boat!" Fei Xiaoyu, the little pepper, was angry when she got up.

"Fourth sister, are you okay?" Fei Ruyi picked up Fei Jixiang next to him and asked with concern.

Fei Jixiang stomped his feet in annoyance and said, "My sketchpad is so angry!" ”

Fei Ruyi said softly: "It's okay if the person is fine, and the sketchpad will wait until the capital to find a craftsman to make another piece." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a big ship with three masts in front of him puffing up its sails and speeding down the river, and the boats on the river were crying and shouting to avoid it, and some small ships were even thrown up and down by the huge waves set off by the big ships, which was quite scary to look at.

"Damn, who is so arrogant, apologize to this girl for stopping the boat!" Fei Xiaoyu pointed to the oncoming three-masted ship and shouted angrily.

However, the big ship didn't bird her at all, and a brocade guard wearing a flying fish suit on the ship even cast a disdainful look.

"Girl, if we can't afford that boat!" The maidservant next to her watched the chess and reminded.

Fei Xiaoyu said unconvinced: "My father is a cabinet scholar, why can't he afford it!" ”

Guan Qi said weakly: "The strong thing on the ship is the dragon flag of the Xuanhuang Tianzi Regiment, which is either ordered by order or the royal family." ”

Only then did Fei Xiaoyu notice that the big ship was passing by by mistakenly, and a yellow dragon flag was arrogantly waving in the wind, and said stupidly: "Oh...... Forget it, there are a lot of girls in this girl, so don't worry about them! ”

A group of girls covered their mouths and giggled at the three girls for bullying the soft and afraid of the hard, they were not heroes!

Fei Ruyi tilted his head and said hesitantly: "Girl, I seem to have seen Xu Gongzi just now, and he was on that boat!" ”

Fei Xiaoyu's eyes widened and said, "What Xu Gongzi?" You mean Xu Jin, how is it possible, I see that your little hooves are the same as your girl, you want to be crazy if you want to get rid of your surname! ”

Fei Ruyi's pretty face flew up two intoxicating red clouds, and said angrily: "Fifth sister, believe it or not, I tore your annoying little mouth!" ”

"Oh, the third sister spared me this, giggles!"

……

At this moment, Xu Jinzheng, the deputy envoy of the Qincha, was standing on the bow deck of the big ship, his blue official robe was blown by the wind, and the heron on his chest seemed to be fluttering its wings.

The official uniforms of the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty are embroidered with birds, and the official uniforms of military attaches are embroidered with fierce beasts, collectively known as "well-dressed beasts", and Xu Jin's official position is from the Hanlin of the six products, so the official uniform is embroidered with a heron.

At this time, Zhang Xuan, the old jinshi standing next to Xu Jin, was also wearing a cyan official robe, and the embroidery on his chest was also a heron, he was released by the Ministry of Officials as the head of the Nanjing Criminal Department, and he was limited to report to the Nanjing Criminal Department within a month, so he took the ship of the Qin Cha to take up his post.

Although he was sent out of Beijing to take up his post, Zhang Xuan's face was full of spring breeze at this time, without the slightest hint of decadence, facing the river breeze with his head held high, looking like an old man chatting about a teenager's madness.

It's no wonder that Zhang Xuan took the exam eight times in a row, and only got the title of the gold list at the age of Benwu, he has been unknown, in the eyes of outsiders, even if he is a jinshi at this age, it is difficult to make achievements. However, Zhang Zhang's "Great Rites" not long ago shook the entire court, and then became famous, splitting the courtiers into two factions. Although he was finally sent to Nanjing to sit on the cold bench by Yang Tinghe, Zhang Xuan did not care at all, because he understood that he had successfully attracted the attention of Emperor Jiajing.

In this country, Emperor Jiajing is the supreme ruler, don't look at Yang Tinghe and the current power of the government and the opposition, but after all, he is just a courtier, and he is also a dying courtier, he will not be in power for a long time, and the Son of Heaven will slowly grow up, and his wings will gradually plump. What Zhang Xuan has to do now is to lie dormant and quietly wait for the time to take off.

There is no doubt that Zhang Xuan is a speculator who is good at seizing opportunities, and has successfully seized the turning point of fate.

In fact, Zhang Xuan has now begun to take off, although he was sent to Nanjing to sit on the cold bench, but the position he held was the head of the Criminal Department, the six-rank official of the Eight Classics, which was one grade higher than Xu Jin's cultivation from the Liupin Hanlin, and was currently the highest position among the new science and technology scholars.

Of course, Zhang Xuan didn't dare to take the official shelf in front of Xu Jin, and he couldn't afford to take this shelf, not to mention that Xu Jin was currently a third-level official minister, and the position of Hanlin Xiu alone was much more promising than that of the head of the Criminal Department. What's more, Xu Jin was deeply trusted by Emperor Jiajing, while Zhang Xuan only attracted Emperor Jiajing's attention at best.

Xu Jin and Zhang Xuan chatted at the bow of the boat for a while, and a young eunuch came out of the cabin, walked to the side of the two and said, "Lord Xu, Lord Xiao, please come inside to talk about things." ”

This young eunuch is Zhu Houxi's companion eunuch Huang Jin, and he is also one of the deputy envoys of the Qin mission this time, specially assigned by Zhu Houxi, to play the role of the emperor's eyes and ears, which is the tradition of the Ming Dynasty.

Although this system plays a certain role in supervision and checks and balances, but the adverse impact is also very great, eunuchs are amateurs who lead troops to fight after all, if they point fingers at the main general, and even use the name of the emperor to pretend to be a tiger, blind command and random command, it is difficult not to suffer defeat.

Of course, the mission of Xu Jin and Xiao Huai's envoy this time is to provide disaster relief, not to lead troops to fight, and Huang Jin is also very self-aware, and he does not dare to take it big in front of Xu Jin, as a person around the emperor, he knows better than anyone how much the emperor trusts Xu Jin.

"There is Lao Huang's father-in-law!" Xu Jin nodded politely, turned around and walked into the cabin.

Xu Jin entered the cabin, and Xiao Huai, the deputy capital imperial historian, was looking at the map, and when he saw Xu Jin, he beckoned, and said with a pleasant face: "Ziqian, come here, let's discuss the schedule for disaster relief." ”

Xiao Huai and Jiangxi Xunsun are close friends, and it is precisely because of this relationship that he is also very close to Xu Jin and treats him as a protégé.