222. Five Hundred Miles Express
There is a tea room in the post station. The clerk lights incense, and the faint sandalwood scent 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, standing opposite him, pondered for a long moment before finally placing a piece. Chen Ji casually placed another piece, and then Zhang Zheng fell back into a long period of contemplation...
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 immediately lost his temper. "Can you at least give me some pointers on how to play? You can't just watch your brother get bullied like this, right?"
Zhang Xia's white teeth snapped together as he cracked a melon seed lightly. "A true gentleman watches chess without saying a word. I wouldn'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 get to the capital? Will you live in the Chen family mansion or buy your own yard?"
Chen Ji thought for a moment: "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 then asked, "Will Master Chen go to the Imperial Academy and donate a place for you as a student? He certainly 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 unlearned before?"
Zhang Zheng hurriedly explained, "You misunderstood. My sister simply looks down on those without talent, but this talent doesn't necessarily refer to the Confucian classics. You'll understand once you arrive in the capital. She's quite famous there, and even the students at the Imperial College are afraid of her."
"Oh?" Chen Ji was curious: "Why is that?"
Taking advantage of Chen Ji's absence from the chessboard, Zhang Zheng explained while secretly placing a few black pieces on the board. "You don't know that the Imperial College not only teaches the Four Books and the Five Classics, but also studies arithmetic and legal codes. Our uncle Xu Shu is not only the deputy director of the Imperial Observatory, but also a doctor of arithmetic and literature at the Imperial College."
Zhang Zheng continued, "My uncle was lazy and didn't want to get up at dawn to teach, so he would ask my sister to fill in every few days. At first, the students at the Imperial College were very reluctant because she was a woman, and even sat in protest to the chief priest. Later, my sister posed a question, and it took them half an hour before one of them could answer it, and then they started to behave themselves."
Chen Ji glanced down at the extra chess piece on the board, but didn't reveal it. He simply placed a white piece to take up the extra black piece, then asked, "What's the problem that took them half an hour?"
Zhang Xia smiled and said, "Looking from afar at the towering seven-story tower, the red lights are multiplying. There are 381 lights in total. How many are there on the top of the tower?"
Chen Ji said without even looking up: "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, gazing at Chen Ji suspiciously. "Have you really heard of this? 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 top and forty-six legs on the bottom. So, how many birds and beasts are there?"
traces
He casually said, "Eight beasts, seven birds."
Zhang Xia was stunned: "Have you 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 become invincible in the Imperial College?"
Zhang Zheng chuckled cheerfully, "She's got a sharp tongue. Those students hadn't passed the imperial examinations for years, and they were frustrated. They drank a little horse urine and started spitting curses. One of them got drunk and went to my sister to pick a fight, saying that his failure to pass the imperial examination was all due to the presence of women in the Imperial College, and he started cursing 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 in one gulp. "My sister asked him, 'Your mother and ten rabbits are locked in a cage, why does she only have forty legs?' The student was puzzled and said that ten rabbits should have forty legs, so why would there only be forty legs when adding his mother?"
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, there was a noise coming from the hall not far away, where officials were toasting each other and drinking happily.
Chen Ji looked at Zhang Xia: "Over there?"
Zhang Xia poured the melon seed shells from his left palm onto a plate and patted his palms. "The gentry and prominent families from Mengjin County have come to pay their respects to my father, and he's drinking with them."
Chen Ji asked curiously, "Master Zhang is about to be promoted to Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Will he still need to entertain the gentry in the small county town?"
Zhang Xia explained, "As the saying goes, imperial power doesn't extend beyond the county level. The nine counties of Luocheng have a complex web of personal connections. If father didn't build close ties with these gentry, he wouldn't even be able to collect the autumn grain. The gentry in these large counties live even better than the officials in the capital or Nanjing. They are the true local emperors."
A weak mother led to a merchant family, a strong father became a minister, a prosperous grandfather stayed in his hometown, and the poor moved to another place. In the minds of the people of the Ning Dynasty, unless they were to become officials, those without any future needed to go far away and suffer hardship.
As they were talking, the sound of hurried horse hooves was heard outside the post station.
When they got closer, they 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 drinking and chatting also put down their glasses and hurried out to greet them.
The expedited delivery levels in the post station are divided into 400-li expedited, 500-li expedited, and 600-li expedited. Unless it is a military matter, these three levels are not allowed to be used.
The soldier came closer, carrying a wax-sealed bamboo tube on his back, and jumped off his horse, asking, "Where is the postmaster at Mengjin Post?"
A middle-aged postmaster with a long beard stepped forward and said, "I am you!"
The soldier took off the bamboo tube on his back and pulled out an envelope from his bosom: "Inside is the military ticket. Prepare a meal and a good horse for me. I will return 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 it privately will be punished according to the law!
Zhang Zhuo was surprised and said, "It's actually for Master Chen... Young man, who sent this urgent message over 500 miles?"
The soldier glanced at him and said arrogantly, "Prince!"
No wonder
This soldier was so arrogant that he even ignored the postmaster. It turned out that he came here on the orders of the crown prince.
Zhang Zhuo handed the bamboo tube to Chen Liqin and said, "Open it and take a look."
Chen Liqin exhaled the alcohol, removed the wax seal, 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 Crown 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'm telling you this because we've been partners for three years. If you think it's wrong, just treat it as drunken nonsense. Guyuan is one of the nine frontiers, and it's already a mixed bag. In recent years, the Jin Party's border 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. The Crown Prince's trip to Guyuan at this time must be very serious. 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 and the Junior Master of the Master's Mansion. How can I refuse?"
Zhang Zhuo cursed, "You haven't even reported for duty at the Ministry of Personnel yet. Furthermore, according to the laws and ancestral traditions, you're required to fast for three days and offer sacrifices to the gods at the City God Temple before taking up your post. And you're using this as an excuse to shirk your duties!"
Chen Liqin shook his head. "Since I'm an official in the Eastern Palace, I should devote all my energy to assisting the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince refuses to go even if it takes him 500 miles, how can I survive in the Eastern Palace? How can the Crown Prince trust me?"
Zhang Zhuo's eyes widened. "Do you really have to be this loyal minister? Don't let a piece of cake fall from the sky and you get knocked out. If he doesn't trust you, the worst that can happen is he'll replace you. By then, you'll just be changing your official position, not losing your life!"
Chen Liqin's face turned serious. "Master Zhang, there's no need to say more. I'm different from you. I don't have so many thoughts about 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 must 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: "Alright, alright, you go and die. Your wife and children come with me. I will escort them to the capital."
Chen Liqin's face darkened. "Master Zhang, please don't exaggerate. The Crown Prince is in Guyuan, which is under the jurisdiction of our Ning Dynasty. We have over 200,000 soldiers stationed there. What danger is there?"
Zhang Zhuo thought for a moment and said, "I don't care about others, but Chen Ji must come with 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, "Looks like we can't continue drinking. Everyone, please go back."
After everyone said their goodbyes, he looked at Chen Ji again and said, "Don't bother with Master Chen. He's going to Guyuan. Let's go to our capital. You'll spend the New Year's Eve at Zhang's house. During the Lantern Festival, I'll give each of you 600 taels of silver as New Year's money. You can visit the City God Temple, enjoy the Lantern Festival, drink wine, and have fun as you please. Young people should just have fun and have fun. You don't have to worry about matters of family and country."
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 should be able to pass through unimpeded."
Zhang Zhuo was about to persuade him, but Chen Ji stopped him. "I understand your good intentions. Please help me take Xiaoman with me and take her to the capital to stay temporarily at the Zhang Mansion... I have to go to Guyuan with the Chen family."
(End of this chapter)
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