Aoyama

Chapter 223 Five Hundred Miles in a Hurry

There is a tea room in the post station. The clerk lights incense, and the faint sandalwood smell wafts out from the hollow copper stove.

Chen Ji and Zhang Zheng sat opposite each other on the couch with a chessboard in front of them. The game was coming to an end.

Surrounded by green smoke, Chen Ji placed a white piece. Zhang Zheng, who was sitting opposite him, pondered for a while and finally placed a piece. Chen Ji placed another piece casually, and then Zhang Zheng fell into a long period of thinking again...

Zhang Xia sat aside cracking melon seeds, watching his own brother being slaughtered without a single piece of armor left, but he had no intention of offering to help.

Zhang Zheng was so anxious that he kept winking at his sister. Zhang Xia asked curiously, "Brother, what's wrong with your eyes? Is there sand in your eyes?"

Zhang Zheng was immediately discouraged: "Can you at least give me some advice on how to play? You can't just watch your brother get bullied like this, right?"

Zhang Xia's white teeth moved up and down, and he cracked a melon seed lightly: "A true gentleman watches chess without saying a word. I won't do that kind of thing."

Chen Ji looked up at Zhang Zheng and said, "Brother Zhang, didn't you come here to play chess with me? Your chess skills... don't seem like someone who likes playing chess."

Zhang Zheng was speechless: "I..."

Zhang Xia asked Chen Ji: "What are your plans when you arrive in the capital? Will you live in the Chen family mansion or buy your own yard?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "He should be living in the Chen family mansion."

Bai Long asked him to return to the Chen family, and he would definitely not let him stay out of it. The closer he is to the core, the better.

Zhang Xia asked again, "Will Lord Chen go to the Imperial Academy to donate a student for you? Of course he will, but you don't want to study the classics, what should I do?"

Chen Ji laughed and teased, "Didn't Miss Zhang Er scold me for being ignorant before?"

Zhang Zheng hurriedly explained: "You misunderstood, my sister just looks down on those who have no ability, but this ability does not necessarily refer to the meaning of the classics. When you arrive in the capital, you will know that she is very famous in the capital, and the students in the Imperial College are afraid of her."

"Oh?" Chen Ji was curious: "Why is this?"

Zhang Zheng took advantage of Chen Ji's absence from the chessboard and explained while secretly dropping a few black pieces on the chessboard: "You don't know that the Imperial College not only teaches the Four Books and the Five Classics, but also teaches mathematics and laws. Our uncle Xu Shu is not only the deputy director of the Imperial Observatory, but also the doctor of mathematics in the Imperial College."

Zhang Zheng continued, "My uncle was lazy and didn't want to get up at dawn to teach, so he asked my sister to take his place every now and then. At first, the students of the Imperial Academy were very reluctant because she was a woman, and even protested to the Master Jijiu. Later, my sister asked a question, and it took them half an hour before one of them could answer it, and then they behaved themselves."

Chen Ji looked down at the extra chess pieces on the board, but did not expose the problem. He just dropped a white piece to swallow the extra black piece, and then asked, "What's the problem that took them half an hour?"

Zhang Xia smiled and said, "Looking at the towering tower from afar, the red lights are multiplying. There are 381 lights in total. Ask how many lights there are on the top of the tower."

Chen Ji said without even raising his head: "Three."

Zhang Xia's eyes widened: "Hey, have you heard of this question?"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Yeah, I've heard of it before."

Zhang Xia held a melon seed to his lips and looked at Chen Ji suspiciously: "Have you really heard of it? Then let me ask you again, there are beasts with six heads and four legs, and birds with four heads and two legs. There are seventy-six heads on the top and forty-six legs on the bottom. Question: How many birds and beasts are there?"

Chen Ji said casually: "Eight beasts, seven birds."

Zhang Xia was startled: "You've heard of this before?"

Chen Ji laughed: "I've heard of it, too."

He changed the subject: "Did Miss Zhang Er rely on her knowledge of literature and mathematics to be invincible in the Imperial College?"

Zhang Zheng laughed cheerfully and said, "She's so sharp-tongued. Those students had failed to pass the imperial examination for many years, and they were so frustrated that they liked to curse and spit shit after drinking some horse urine. One of them got drunk and went to my sister to make trouble, saying that he failed to pass the imperial examination because there were women in the Imperial College, and he cursed at my sister's dormitory."

Chen Ji remained calm: "And then?"

Zhang Zheng said: "Then my sister gave him a question."

Chen Ji was puzzled: "What question?"

Zhang Zheng picked up the teacup beside him and drank it all. "My sister asked him, 'Your mother and ten rabbits were locked in a cage, why did she only have forty legs?' The student was puzzled and said that ten rabbits had forty legs, so why did she only have forty legs when her mother was included?"

Zhang Zheng put down the teacup: "My sister answered him, because you don't have a mother."

Chen Ji looked at Zhang Xia in astonishment. What a strong attack power.

Zhang Xia coughed lightly, then lowered his head to drink tea in embarrassment to cover it up.

At this time, a noise came from the hall not far away. Officials were drinking happily. Chen Ji looked at Zhang Xia: "Who's that over there?"

Zhang Xia poured the melon seed shells from his left hand onto the plate and patted his palms: "The gentry and prominent families in Mengjin County have come together to pay their respects to my father, and my father is drinking with them."

Chen Ji asked curiously, "Master Zhang is about to be promoted to the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Will he still need to entertain the gentry in the small county town?"

Zhang Xia explained, "The so-called imperial power does not extend below the county level. The nine counties in Luocheng have complicated human relationships. If father is not close to these gentry, he will not even be able to collect the autumn grain. The gentry in these large counties live a more comfortable life than the officials in the capital and Nanjing. They are the real local emperors."

A weak mother is a merchant, a strong father is a minister, a prosperous grandfather stays in his hometown, and a poor family moves to another place. In the minds of the people of the Ning Dynasty, unless they go out to become officials, otherwise, people with no future need to go far away to suffer.

As they were talking, the sound of hurried horse hooves was heard outside the post station.

When I got closer, I saw a soldier on horseback shouting, "Five hundred miles, hurry!"

Chen Ji and others stood up and walked out. Zhang Zhuo and others who were toasting each other also put down their glasses and hurried out to greet them.

The express delivery levels in the post station are divided into 400-li express, 500-li express, and 600-li express. Unless it is a military matter, these three levels are not allowed to be used.

The soldier came up with a wax-sealed bamboo tube on his back and jumped off his horse, asking, "Where is the postmaster of Mengjin Post?"

A middle-aged postmaster with a beard stepped forward and said, "I am you!"

The soldier took off the bamboo tube on his back and took out an envelope from his bosom: "Inside is the military ticket. Prepare a meal and a good horse for me. I will go back and report after I finish eating!"

The postmaster took the bamboo tube, but saw black words burned on it with an iron: Written by Chen Liqin, the co-magistrate of Luocheng. Anyone who writes privately will be punished according to the law!
Zhang Zhuo was surprised and said, "It's actually for Lord Chen... Young man, who sent this urgent message of 500 miles?"

The soldier glanced at him and said arrogantly, "Prince!"

No wonder this soldier is so arrogant and doesn't even take the postmaster seriously. It turns out that he came here on the orders of the crown prince.

Zhang Zhuo handed the bamboo tube to Chen Liqin: "Open it and take a look."

Chen Liqin exhaled a breath of alcohol, removed the wax, and poured out a letter with a red seal. After reading it, he frowned and remained silent for a long time.

Zhang Zhuo asked in confusion, "What did the prince say? Look how worried you are."

Chen Liqin looked at him and said, "The prince ordered me not to return to the capital, but to go directly to Guyuan to join him."

Zhang Zhuo subconsciously said: "No!"

"Hmm?" Chen Liqin was puzzled: "What does Master Zhang mean?"

Zhang Zhuo pulled Chen Liqin aside and said under the influence of alcohol: "Master Chen, I am telling you this because we have been partners for three years. If you think it is wrong, just treat what I said as drunken nonsense. Guyuan is one of the nine frontiers and it is already a mixed bag. In recent years, the Jin Party's frontier troops have been rebellious against the court. There have been endless incidents of withholding food and wages, killing innocent people and claiming credit, but they have all been suppressed by the cabinet. It must be a big deal for the prince to go to Guyuan at this time. Don't wade into this muddy water, or you will lose your life!"

Chen Liqin hesitated: "But I am an official of the Eastern Palace, the Junior Master Zhan of the Zhan Mansion, how can I refuse?"

Zhang Zhuo cursed, "You haven't reported to the Ministry of Personnel yet, and according to the law and ancestral rules, you have to fast for three days and worship the gods at the City God Temple before you take up your post. Why are you using this excuse to shirk your duties?"

Chen Liqin shook his head: "Since I am already an official of the Eastern Palace, I should do my best to assist the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince does not go even if he has to travel 500 miles in an emergency, how can I live in the Eastern Palace in the future? How can the Crown Prince trust me?"

Zhang Zhuo's eyes widened: "Do you really have to be a loyal minister? Don't be knocked out by a pie in the sky. If he doesn't trust you, the worst that can happen is that he will replace you. By then, you will just be changing your position, but you won't lose your life!"

Chen Liqin's face was serious. "Master Zhang, there is no need to say more. I am different from you. I don't have so many thoughts of self-preservation. The king is the king, the minister is the minister, the father is the father, the son is the son. If the king wants the minister to die, the minister has to die. The prince is in need of people now, how can I not go? I, Chen Liqin, am not a coward!"

Zhang Zhuo laughed in anger: "Okay, okay, you go and die, and your wife and children will come with me. I will escort them to the capital."

Chen Liqin's face became darker and darker. "Master Zhang, please don't exaggerate. The prince is in Guyuan, which is under the jurisdiction of our Ning Dynasty. There are more than 200,000 soldiers there. What danger is there?"

Zhang Zhuo thought for a moment and said, "I don't care about others, but Chen Ji has to follow me."

Chen Liqin was so angry that he threw his sleeves and walked away: "Ridiculous!"

Zhang Zhuo looked at Chen Liqin's back and sighed. He bowed to the squire and said, "It seems that we can't continue drinking. Let's go back now."

Everyone said goodbye, and he looked at Chen Ji again: "Don't bother with Master Chen, he's going to Guyuan, let's go to our capital, and then you will spend the New Year's Day in Zhang's house. When it comes to the Lantern Festival, I will give each of you 600 taels of silver as New Year's money, visit the City God Temple, enjoy the Lantern Festival, drink flower wine, and have fun as you like. Young people, just play and have fun, don't worry about those family and national affairs."

Chen Ji was silent for a moment, then took out his Secret Service badge from his sleeve and said, "Master Zhang, with this badge, you will be able to pass through without any hindrance."

Zhang Zhuo wanted to persuade him, but was stopped by Chen Ji: "I know your good intentions, please help me take Xiaoman with me and take her to the capital to stay in Zhang Mansion temporarily... I have to go to Guyuan with the Chen family."

(End of this chapter)