Chapter 365: The prince blocks the road, the warship dragon flag
A night of silence.
The next morning, when the rooster crowed, the sound of washing could be heard in the small courtyard where Zhao Duan lived.
Then, Xu Zhenguan, who was neatly dressed, stepped out and declined Eugene's invitation to have breakfast at the house. With the courtesy of the Zhao family, he took a chariot to welcome Dongfang Yubaibai and returned to the palace.
"Brother." At the door of the Zhao Mansion, a girl wearing a coat raised her face with dark circles under her eyes, with a complicated look on her face: "Did you and His Majesty last night..."
Eugene pursed his lips and raised his ears.
"..." Zhao Duan scalped her in a state of laughter and laughter, and laughed and cursed:
"You're young, what are you thinking about? Go back to the house."
He yawned and prepared to go back and catch up on his sleep
——After returning from Houhu last night, Xu Zhenguan stayed in the guest room next door, while Zhao Duan stayed alone in the room. He stayed up until midnight due to nervous excitement and fell asleep.
The mother and daughter went back angrily.
…
On this day, there was an uproar in the capital, and details about yesterday's meeting in the Plum Garden finally spread.
The news that Mr. Zhengyang surrendered to the "King of Hell" was truly shocking, and as expected, it triggered a series of conspiracy theories.
A group of people firmly believed that it was the imperial hawks and dogs who secretly threatened and forced Zhengyang to surrender.
Another group of people who pay attention to "Xinxue" speculate that "Xinxue" may have been written by a certain Confucian master and was expressed through the mouth of Zhao Duan.
But there is no evidence.
Zhao Duan had no intention of plagiarizing Yangming's knowledge, so he just let the outside world speculate and ignore it.
On the other hand, plainclothes officers were sent out to the streets to record those who slandered Mr. Zhao on the list. It was conceivable that a secret arrest would be inevitable later.
In the turmoil caused by this battle, the saying "His Majesty stayed overnight in the Zhao Mansion" spread in the official circles of the court, which attracted hundreds of officials to look at him and discuss secretly.
It was a different story again.
The turmoil lasted for about a week, and then gradually subsided as Mr. Zhengyang led his disciples to leave the capital and return to the original route.
Xu Zudi, the eldest son of Prince Heng, also left the capital with Mrs. Xiao at a similar time.
This disappointed many people who were looking forward to another conflict between Xu Zudi and Zhao Duan.
The capital once again found a rare calm, but as winter progressed, the topic of Huting's opening of the market also gradually heated up, becoming the focus of attention both inside and outside the government.
And on the day when Dayu officially ushered in the "beginning of winter" and entered winter, an official ship set sail and rode the biting north wind towards the lake pavilion.
…
…
Hua Hua——
The official ship cut through the waves, and the sails were vigorously pumping.
In the cabin, which was decorated like an ordinary room, Zhao Duan sat cross-legged on a woolen mat that was a tribute from the Western Regions, with his hands clasped and his eyes closed.
There was an animal-shaped incense burner placed on the floor in front of him, emitting curls of green smoke.
"call!"
Suddenly, green smoke gently stirred in the windless cabin. Zhao Duan took a deep breath and returned to reality from his meditation practice.
When he opened his eyelids, a dazzling golden light faintly flashed through his bright black pupils.
"Finally promoted to the middle level of the Divine Chapter!"
Zhao Duan couldn't hide the joy on his face. After this period of "digestion", and with the help of the soul power brought by the self-destruction of the bewitched master, he finally entered the middle-level realm of the divine chapter smoothly.
The battle between Buddhism and Taoism was in the early autumn, when I entered the divine chapter. Now, only three months have passed, and I have reached a small realm.
"At this rate, wouldn't I be able to reach a high level a year ago and enter the 'Worldly' realm next year? Reach the minimum threshold for dual cultivation with Zhenbao? Well... The premise is that there is a second Bewitching Master to give me experience."
Zhao Duan couldn't help but daydream.
There are no particularly big changes in the breakthrough of the small realm. Apart from the filling of the sea of qi, the more obvious ability is that he has the rudiment of "spiritual mind".
"Now, even if I close my eyes, I can vaguely 'see' the outside world through my perception. Although it is still blurry and the distance is limited, it is still very magical."
"Moreover, my reaction speed, memory, and even energy have all improved. No wonder Zhenbao can review memorials continuously and still not show signs of fatigue from high-intensity work. The sublimation of life level brought about by practice is indeed impressive."
Zhao Duan's ears suddenly twitched as he sighed, and heard footsteps approaching outside the door.
He looked through the door panel, and suddenly a vague picture of what happened after going out was sketched in his mind.
It was as if his eyes had been opened and he "saw" a pair of long legs in cowhide boots approaching from behind the door, accompanied by trembling black ponytails.
"Sea Division, please come in." Zhao Duan raised the corner of his mouth.
The next second, the cabin door opened, revealing a heroic face with tear stains on the corners of his eyes.
Haitang was dressed in a brocade official robe, with a bulging bag full of flying knives at her waist. She looked at him with confusion in her eyes: "How did you know it was me?"
Zhao Duan smiled and said nothing.
Haitang's eyes widened and she said in disbelief: "Are you in the top grade?"
Seeing that the latter did not refute, the Narcissus Hall Master held his breath, his expression extremely complicated, but ripples appeared in his heart:
She recalled that when Zhao Duan entered Zhao Yamen, he was still the weakest among the nine halls. Now, only a few months later, he had already reached the forefront.
"Is something wrong?" Zhao Duan said with a smile, silently enjoying the admiration of his female colleagues.
Haitang collected her thoughts and said with a straight face: "We will arrive at Huting soon, Hai Zongfeng will call you."
"Have we finally arrived?" Zhao Duan perked up and followed the former out of the cabin and onto the deck.
On this trip, he was ordered by the empress to come to Huting to supervise the opening of the imperial court. It was a long and arduous journey, and he finally arrived after drifting on the Grand Canal for several days.
…
Zhao Duan climbed onto the deck, facing the wind blowing from the river, and his vision suddenly became clearer.
On the vast river, ships of various sizes sailed on the river in the distance. There were both official ships and merchant ships, keeping their distance from each other.
The winter wind is not warm, even if everyone goes all the way south.
The sails on the ship's mast have been lowered by half, reducing the wind speed. The outline of the mountains can be seen in the distance, and the city dock is vaguely discernible.
"grown ups!"
As soon as he appeared, the officials of Lihuatang accompanying him on the deck greeted him one after another. Two of the "four pear blossoms" dispatched this time, Qian Kerou and Zheng Laojiu stayed in the capital.
Two rough guys, Hou Renmeng and Shen Juan, led a team of brocade clad men to follow, and there was also a team of forbidden troops on board to guard the ship.
Haitang was also seconded as Zhao Duan's deputy.
"Out?"
On the deck, the Ouchi eunuch standing by the railing turned around with a smile.
This head of worship, whose real name is "Hai Chunlin", escorted Zhao Duan south this time.
The eunuch who was more than a hundred years old did not wear the extremely ostentatious bright red python robe. He only had a cotton robe. Although he was old, his wrinkled face was flushed, and he did not know that it was because of his strong blood. , or the cold wind blows.
"Huh? Are you...in the middle grade?"
Eunuch Hai narrowed his eyes and carefully looked at the gorgeous clothes. Zhao Duan, who was also not wearing official robes, was slightly surprised.
"Haha, I can't hide it from my father-in-law." Zhao Duan said with a smile.
The old worshipper smacked his lips, suddenly glanced at Haitang, and sighed:
"It's a pity that your majesty took action first, otherwise my father-in-law, I would have really thought of accepting a disciple." Haitang's face was expressionless and she glared at him angrily: "If my father-in-law said, just talk about him, what do you want me to do?"
Hai Chunlin smiled, not annoyed at all.
How many people in the entire court dared to talk to the old priest like this? But people around him were already used to it.
"You don't have to be so serious." Zhao Duan said with a smile, "If I had known earlier that you, Haitang, were a relative of Haitang, we two cousins would have been closer by now."
When Eunuch Hai entered the palace, there were still people at home.
At that time, he was from a small family, so he was willing to send his children to the palace to be eunuchs.
After Hai Chunlin entered the temple, the "Hai family" outside was also taken care of. Although it was not a wealthy family, it still ensured the family's success for a hundred years.
In terms of seniority, Haitang's great-great-grandfather was Hai Chunlin's brother, a close relative.
She is also the second person in the Hai family in the past hundred years, besides Hai Chunlin, to have a good talent in cultivation. She is also a careful mind and handles things properly, so she can work in the imperial office.
Eunuch Hai also loved his great-great-granddaughter very much, but Haitang didn't want to rely on her background, so only a few people knew about the connection between the two.
"Alas, you don't need to have such a great background, but you have to work hard on your own. Are the children of wealthy families with good backgrounds so mentally ill?"
After Zhao Duan learned about the relationship between his grandfather and grandson, he complained crazily. He used to think that this kind of thing only happened in TV dramas, but he didn't expect that there was one beside him.
"Master Zhao, please address your duties when working."
Haitang rolled her eyes, expressed her refusal, and said in a slightly sarcastic tone:
"If Mr. Zhao cares about his subordinates, he can take care of the two over there."
Zhao Duan had no choice but to follow her gaze to the corner of the official ship's deck.
There were two other expert guards assigned to him by Zhenbao.
Lang Shiba and Ji Yue.
At this moment, the swordsman named Lang Shiba was sitting cross-legged in a corner of the deck, with his long hair covering one eye.
Wearing a thin green shirt of coarse cloth, he placed a knife across his knees, and next to him was an extraordinarily huge green-skinned gourd, with its mouth open, letting out the aroma of strong liquor.
Lang Shiba held a broken pottery bowl in his hand, his eyes staring blankly, and he occasionally took a sip of the strong wine in the bowl.
If he drinks all the wine, he will take another bowl from the big wine gourd.
He is an "alcoholic"...
Five steps away, there is a warlock "Jiyue" dressed in red, with most of the whites in her pupils like a female ghost.
Her body is always damp, and the chains that originally imprisoned her on her wrists and ankles are gone, replaced by scars caused by wear and tear from long-term confinement.
Jiyue lowered her head, avoiding everyone's eyes and rarely spoke.
Based on Zhao Duan's observations along the way, it was determined that she was a deep social terror...
"Father, I have always wanted to ask, what is the origin of these two people arranged by His Majesty?"
Zhao Duan sighed and asked softly for advice, "I always feel that it's not very reliable."
The old priest had his hands behind his back, smiling as kindly as an elder in the village, and said with a smile:
"Didn't I tell you about it? One is from the north and the other is from the east."
I don’t want to hear nonsense... Zhao Duan sighed softly and said:
"I have observed these days that although Lang Shiba looks drunk and like an uninhibited wanderer, he has an indelible martial spirit, but it is not strong. I am afraid he was also a strong man in the army? Beidi? Capital City To the north is Tieguan Road, the territory of King Yanshan...
But he was in the capital, so he probably had nothing to do with King Yanshan. Such a master shouldn't be unknown. Was he someone from Beicheng who was stationed in Tieguan Road by the imperial court? Am I right? "
"As for that Jiyue, social fear is very strong... Well, social fear means fear of contact with others. The accent is a bit strange, not like Qingzhou, nor like Binhai Road... nor does the appearance look tanned from the sun in Lingnan. He looks like someone who occasionally speaks in a gibberish dialect. Could it be that he is from the Thousand Islands of the East China Sea and not from the Yu Dynasty?"
Eunuch Hai's smile did not change: "Didn't you guess a lot?"
Zhao Duan smiled bitterly and said, "I want to know more details, otherwise I won't be able to use it at ease."
Eunuch Hai laughed and said:
"Why don't you worry about what your Majesty gave you? Just feel at ease. Before you die, make sure these two die before you."
The swordsman and the drunkard didn't seem to hear the discussion and continued to drink to themselves.
The white-eyed female ghost quickly glanced this way, and after meeting Zhao Duan's gaze, she turned back and silently looked at the wet toes of the embroidered shoes on her feet.
"Okay..." Zhao Duan sighed. The old man was so bad that he didn't want to reveal anything, but there was nothing he could do.
He held on to the railing, looked at the port and city ahead, and said:
"Huting... When I was in Beijing, I heard that there is such a place at the junction of Linfeng and Huai River. It was first built as a berthing wharf during the construction of the Grand Canal by the previous dynasty, and then gradually developed.
So far, it is only a "town" in the book of Liubu, but its scale is already much larger than the county seat. It is just a solitary site, with merchant ships on the canal and a port for exchanging goods. It does not have enough villages and towns under its jurisdiction. It cannot become a county.
But the sight of buildings on the shore and thousands of sailboats racing across the river is not surprising for a city like Taicang. "
After a pause, Zhao Duan said again:
"It is said that the word 'Lake' in the name Huting comes from the 'Yansuo Lake' that was released from the flood here. There is also a huge statue carved on the mountain on the cliff beside the lake? It is also a historical site. How many places in Jiangnan?" Scholars wrote poems about it to make it famous.
Princess Xu Junling seems to have written several poems here. Well, after all, this is the territory of the Huaihe River. What percentage of the entire Huting is occupied by the shops and merchant ships of the Huai'an Prince's Palace? "
Hai Chunlin stood on the deck looking into the distance like him and said with a smile:
"Our family doesn't understand the disputes between the government and the public. We only care about your life, but I can also hear what you want to say. The market in Huting is about to open, and King Huai'an and King Jing are close to here. The shadow guard's intelligence said, It had arrived many days before us.
The other princes have also sent their confidants here, and now they are all rooted in this city... I dare say that countless pairs of eyes in the whole city are staring at you now. "
Zhao Duan sighed: "You want to kill me, right?"
Suddenly, a large ship approached rapidly from far to near in front of the field of vision, attracting the attention of everyone on the deck.
"Sir, the ship in front seems to be coming towards us!"
Hou Ren frowned fiercely and held the handle of the knife.
Haitang, who has a more delicate mind and is good at solving crimes, raised his eyebrows and his face changed slightly:
"This is not an ordinary ship, it is a warship! There is no war at this time, who is driving a warship on the river?"
The appearance of warships on the river attracted everyone's attention.
I saw a behemoth approaching through the waves on the river.
It has a third floor and is six feet high. It is painted with red paint, wrapped in iron armor, and has a horse stable. The arrow holes on the female wall are so densely packed that it is shocking to look at them.
Zhao Duan held the handrails of the ship with both hands, narrowed his eyes, and stared coldly at the behemoth that was two or three times larger than the ship under his feet.
The palms of the hands are slightly clenched.
Although they were still far apart, it was as if they could vaguely hear the sound of strings of silk and bamboo, and there seemed to be many men and women playing and playing on the warship.
At the top, the one pole is not the Huai River Navy, but a black and yellow flag hunting in the wind, with a four-clawed golden dragon vaguely drawn on the flag.
"The flag of Prince Jing's Mansion!" Haitang's expression changed slightly.
Eunuch Hai looked at a certain figure on the deck of the warship, suddenly looked at Zhao Duan, and said meaningfully:
"Your love rival is here."
Love rival?
Zhao Duan was startled, then remembered a certain rumor, and blurted out:
"Prince Jing? Xu Jinglong?"
far away.
On the third floor of the behemoth "ironclad ship", Xu Jinglong put his hands behind his back and looked down at the low official ship in front, with no expression on his face.
…
Today’s update, typos will be corrected first and then
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(End of chapter)