When the handsome banner of Wei Guogong finally appeared by the Qinhuai River, the hundred officials who had been waiting for a long time finally had a riot, and today's protagonist finally appeared. However, as the distance between Shuai Qi and them gradually narrowed, the officials also let out a low exclamation at the same time. Because what they saw in front of them was far from what they expected, and there was no triumphant army following the Shuai Qi, but dozens of people riding from them, and they were covered with wind and dust and looked tired and embarrassed.

Zheng Sanjun, who was next to Li Xin, exchanged glances with Gao Hongtu, it turned out that the purpose of the Marquis of Zhenyu to greet Wei Guogong with great fanfare today was still here, so he was afraid that Wei Guogong would further lose his prestige. Li Xin muttered to himself in surprise: "Obviously, he has ordered the Pingbo fleet to return with Wei Guogong, why did Wei Guogong return alone?" ”

This sentence fell on Gao Hongtu's ears, but it made him feel that the Marquis of Zhenyu was a bit of a taste of three hundred taels of silver here, and it was embarrassing to embarrass Wei Guogong, and no one would criticize anything, after all, the victorious and the defeated are not a stain that can be used to talk about things.

"Playing music!"

At this time, the ceremonial official shouted a long shout, and the majestic triumphal music sounded out of thin air, covering up the noisy voices of the chaotic officials. Wei Guogong's team of dozens of people was not slow, and soon arrived in front of the official road that hundreds of officials had been waiting for for a long time. He was obviously surprised by the scale of the greeting, and although he had sent more than once to inform him that a welcoming ceremony would be held in Nanking, he had never imagined that it would be on such a scale, and that hundreds of officials would be organized, and that it was the first time he had experienced the scale of the greeting.

Li Xin pointed in the direction of the Wei State Horse Team and turned his head to Zheng Sanjun beside him and asked, "The White Horse Mingguang Armorer is the Wei Guogong?" ”

Zheng Sanjun nodded solemnly, "What the Marquis of Zhenyu is referring to is good, it is the Duke of Wei!" ”

"Let's go, let's stop standing here, go ahead and greet us!"

Soon, the distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and when there were still about twenty or so steps, Li Xin was angry and shouted in front of him: "Hundreds of officials below the Zhenyu Marquis hereby greet the triumph of Wei Guogong!" ”

Wei Guogong Xu Hongji's tired face immediately appeared with an extremely sincere smile.

"How dare the defeated generals speak up? The marquis of Zhenyu was invincible before he could stand in time, he was really a pillar of my Ming Dynasty, and Xu was ashamed of himself. ”

Xu Hongji is extremely humble and respectful in his attitude, which is impeccable. Li Xin hurriedly responded, "Wei Guogong praises falsely, Li Xin's later generations still have to ask Wei Guogong to mention it from time to time." ”

The two got off the horse and walked side by side, and came to the table that had been prepared for a long time, on which were placed the ancient wine vessels bronze jue, and someone in the bronze jue had already poured clear wine, Li Xin picked up a jue and handed it to Xu Hongji first, and then picked up a jue himself, and said loudly: "Congratulations to the Duke of Wei Guogong on his victory, do this jue!" ”

After picking up the wine glass, the sad and tired look on Xu Hongji's face was completely swept away, and his voice was loud, and the two of them drank all the wine. As a result, the indescribable awkward atmosphere finally eased somewhat.

After the two put down their wine glasses, Xu Hongji said in a low voice: "I really don't hide it from the marquis, Xu is sick at this time, and it is difficult to stay in the suburbs for a long time, and I hope everything will be simple and fast." It's better than raising this useless body at home. ”

Xu Hongji's words sounded to Gao Hongtu, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, and it was completely a low-profile hint, I did not come back this time to compete with you Li Xin for merit, nor did I want to fight with you for power, but to concentrate on recuperating from illness and not asking about political affairs. In fact, it is not difficult to understand that Wei Guogong left Nanjing with 20,000 horses, but when he came back, there was only a team of less than 100 people.

Li Xin didn't answer and asked: "After Li Xin received Wei Guogong's letter and learned that you were infected with Shen Zhen, he had already ordered the Pingbo fleet to come back with you, how did Wei Guogong take the first step?" ”

Xu Hongji waved his hand and said: "No matter how to blame his subordinates, they did invite Xu to board the boat, but Xu is not used to this boat, and he thinks that the white horse Jian Cong is more happy, and he has a good intention to fight the marquis of Zhenju, don't blame, don't blame!" ”

Gao Hongtu was secretly surprised by the two people's answers, could it be that what the Marquis of Zhenyu said to himself just now was true? Isn't he embarrassed Wei Guogong, it was Wei Guogong himself who insisted on returning to Nanjing with a light car?

For a while, his mind was a little confused, and he felt that his previous judgment of the Marquis of Zhenlu might have been deviated, didn't the Marquis of Zhenlu plan to completely liquidate this embarrassment Wei Guogong? But he quickly denied this idea, the existence of Wei Guogong was the biggest enemy of the Marquis of Zhenyu in the city of Nanjing, if he was let go and let him recover, wouldn't it be a self-defeating way out?

After some instructions, the triumphant ceremony began, and at the same time, everything was done as soon as Wei Guogong asked, which also coincided with the thoughts of the hundred officials, they had been standing outside the treasure gate for almost two hours, and they were already exhausted, and they couldn't wait to finish the triumphal ceremony of Laoshizi immediately, so that they could go home and rest comfortably.

A grand triumphal ceremony ended hastily, and after Li Xin and Xu Hongji entered the city side by side, hundreds of officials also entered the city according to their ranks, and each returned to his own home.

But while this triumphal ceremony was taking place, it was not without noise. Today, the "Bulletin" also devoted a large page to a scandal in which Xu Wenjue, the son of Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, had clashed with the army patrolling the city a few days ago, and at the same time received various anonymous letters, which detailed many of Xu Wenjue's pickled and filthy things. People love to see this kind of secrecy, which will give people the pleasure of snooping into their privacy.

Originally, the Marquis of Zhenyu held a triumphal ceremony for the Duke of Wei, and many people thought that the Marquis of Zhenyu was afraid of the Duke of Wei returning to the city, so it was a deliberate gesture to stammer, but from the attitude of the "Communiqué", there was no intention of stammering, and people with good deeds could not guess what the Marquis of Zhenlu really thought in his heart who turned his hands into clouds and covered his hands into rain.

Regarding the triumphal ceremony for Wei Guogong, not everyone in Li Xin's family deeply agreed, for example, Zhu Yuncai was not impressed, but he did not show it in front of Li Xin. When working with Chen Wenshan in private, he couldn't help but complain a few words.

"Isn't the marquis of Zhenyu afraid of creating an illusion of deliberate stammering to the officials and people in the city? This is really a bad move! ”

In fact, Chen Wenzhi also felt in his heart that there was no need to treat Wei Guogong like this, and now taking advantage of Wei Guogong's prestige to discredit the ground, it is only right to directly beat the water dog, how can there be a reason to put gold on the enemy's face at this juncture of political disputes? But when you think about it, the decisions of the Marquis of Zhenyu have always been unexpected, and they have achieved unexpectedly good results, so maybe the Marquis of Zhenyu has other plans.

Just three days after Wei Guogong returned to the city, a soap Li hurriedly came to report to Chen Wenshan, and Wei Guogong's henchman Ding Huai took over Shao Hualong's dismissed old department, and reorganized the scale of about three or two thousand people. At the same time, Gao Hongtu, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, also received an official letter from Ding Huai asking for salary. After Gao Hongtu received the official document, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat, and said in his heart, this struggle is still coming, I knew that Wei Guogong would not stop recuperating after he came back, although Wei Guogong did not come forward in this matter, but everyone knew that if this matter was not instructed by him behind the scenes, Ding Huai was just a mere deputy general, and he was not as good as Shao Hualong in terms of official character and duties, how could he have the confidence to dare to collect the soldiers who had been dismissed without authorization?

Gao Hongtu didn't dare to be arbitrary about this, and immediately galloped to Ying Tianfu to see Li Xin, and happened to collide with Chen Wenshan, who was very worried. After the two men tentatively exchanged ideas, they realized that they were all worried about the same thing. That is, Wei Guogong has begun to organize a counterattack, but I don't know what Wei Guogong's next move.

"It's useless for you and me to worry about it, so let's ask the Marquis of Zhenyu to make a decision in person!"

How do you know that the Marquis of Zhenyu didn't seem surprised when he heard about it, as if he had already known about it.

"What is the purpose of the two joint visits, but they just collected some remnants, since Ding Huai's reason is sufficient, he asked Gao Butang to instruct the household department to allocate food. You can discuss this matter with Zheng Sanjun! ”

After a few words, Li Xin sent Gao Hongtu out. Chen Wenzhi was worried and refused to leave, "Xia Guan heard that Jiang Yueguang of the Hanlin Academy has gathered a group of people again, and they have been discussing behind closed doors all day, I don't know what they are plotting again, and the Hou of Zhenzhen must be on guard!" ”

Li Xin reassured Chen Wenshan, he had his own arrangement, "Xiucai rebelled, and it won't work out in three years!" Chen Fuzun put his heart in his stomach! ”

At this time, Zhu Yuncai hurried over again, his face was gloomy, his eyes were scattered, and he was even a little confused, but this kind of situation rarely appeared on the face of this cool official. Li Xin's heart suddenly tightened, he could easily deal with the so-called opinions of Chen Wenjiao and Gao Hongtu, but if Zhu Yuncai hadn't encountered a tricky matter, he was afraid that he would not have behaved like this.

Sure enough, Zhu Yuncai opened his mouth and said an unbelievable news.

The jailer of Ying Tianfu Prison was poisoned and died, not only him, but also several key people involved in the case died violently overnight. There are ghosts in this heavenly mansion! ”

"What?"

Zhu Yuncai's words didn't wait for Li Xin to react, but Chen Wenzhi was so shocked that he almost slipped off the chair and sat on the ground. Ying Tianfu is his one-third of an acre of land, and now the successive accidents prove his incompetence?

It seems that someone is already cleaning up the periphery for Xu Wenjue, ready to wipe his ass clean. Li Xin had long expected a counterattack, and now the counterattack has come, and it is a two-pronged approach. At the moment when the atmosphere in the main hall was quite delicate, Niu Jinsong, who had not appeared for many days, appeared, and he came to Li Xin's side and whispered a few words.

After listening to this, Li Xin nodded frequently.