Peerless Pirates

After lingering on the Wanli Bridge for a while, Song Zheng saw more and more people blocking both ends of the bridge, and said hurriedly, "Your Highness, let's go. If we delay any longer, the people may curse the streets and get hold of Zhou Yu."

"It's getting late, sir, please!" Lang Boyan was still polite.

At this moment, the people at the north end of the bridge suddenly became panicked. Song Zheng took a closer look and saw a group of people and horses rushing towards this side quickly along the road. The leader was about thirty, riding a chestnut horse and wearing moon-white brocade. He wears a long robe, a tasseled crown on his head, and a white face. Although he is not very majestic, he has a strong scholarly air and looks very elegant.

Behind him, there was a small purple carved sedan, carried by four strong servants, who followed him as fast as flying. More than a hundred yellow-robed soldiers followed suit. Although they were walking, they ran very fast and followed closely.

"Second brother, is that you?" The horseman shouted loudly before he could reach him.

Lang Boyan was startled at first, and then his face showed excitement. He immediately got off his horse and rushed forward to meet him. As he ran, he kept shouting "big brother".

The man also turned over and dismounted and ran towards this side. Lang Boyan took a few steps closer and bent his knees, "Brother, please pay homage to His Highness the Crown Prince!" The visitor quickly helped Lang Boyan and held each other's arms, "Second brother, I want to die. As a brother." There was a cry in his voice.

The small sedan also stopped. Before the bearer could lift the curtain, a beautiful girl in purple jumped out of the sedan. After running forward for two steps, she seemed to feel something was wrong, so she stopped her body and slowly He leaned towards Lang Boyan and called out "Second Brother" softly.

Song Zheng knew who was coming and hurriedly got off his horse. Lou Jing and Xue Qimeng also came down early and waited quietly beside the horse.

Lang Boyan's eldest brother is naturally the current prince and the future heir of the Shu Kingdom, Lang Bochuan. As for the girl, she is the princess Lang Yue'er who is favored by the emperor and the prince. It is said that when the princess's mother was pregnant, she dreamed of purple The moon is in the sky. Since the princess was born, she has preferred purple, so she is called Princess Ziyue.

When the three brothers of the Lang family were almost close to each other, Song Zheng stepped forward to greet them. Lang Boyan quickly introduced, "Brother, this is the envoy of Da Qi, Mr. Song Zheng Song, who is known as a master of both civil and military affairs."

"Song Zheng pays homage to His Highness the Crown Prince!" Song Zheng bowed slightly. He was the envoy of Da Qi. He did not have to kneel down except when meeting the Emperor of Shu.

Lang Bochuan hurriedly gave him a weak hand, and his face showed joy, "'Walk the Xijiang River, pour the Beidou carefully, and everything is a guest.' With such a beautiful sentence, not only the second brother, but also Xiao Wang wanted to call him 'Sir'."

"I don't dare!" Song Zheng bent down again and raised his head, only to see a pair of big black eyes looking at him. Who is Zi Yue? Seeing Song Zheng glance at her, Zi Yue's face changed. Red, body slightly sideways.

"Brother, this is not the place for a conversation. Why don't you let me send you to Huailai Station first, and then you and I can go visit our father."

Lang Bochuan smiled and said, "Father went to Qingcheng Mountain early yesterday morning. Why don't you and I send Mr. Song to Huailaiyi together?"

"Father went to Qingcheng Mountain? No...Okay, Mr. Song, please!"

Song Zheng secretly thought, that old guy Lang Zhengchun didn't leave early or late, but ran to Qingcheng Mountain before he arrived in Chengdu. Didn't he deliberately avoid him? Then he thought again, he is the emperor, and it is not his fault to say a word to him without seeing him. Hide yourself.

It is said that Emperor Dawei likes to study Taoism. Every year during the Xuanyuan Festival (the 25th day of the second lunar month, Lao Tzu's birthday), he would go to Qingcheng Mountain to live for a period of time. It is only September now, so why is Lang Zhengchun going to Qingcheng Mountain?

With doubts, Song Zheng and everyone set out on the road. Lang Bochuan was in the middle, Song Zheng and Lang Boyan were on both sides, half a horse's head behind as a sign of respect. Ziyue's sedan followed closely, and the sedan curtain was always open. Seam, a pair of beautiful eyes couldn't help but look at Song Zheng.

Song Zheng felt keenly and glanced back. He didn't see Ziyue, but only vaguely saw the carriage in the distance, which was still stationed by the Wanli Bridge. That was the carriage Su Chan was sitting in, and the curtain was raised , Su Chan was looking up at Song Zheng. And around the carriage, at some point, there were a few more men in black with stern faces.

Huailai Post is not far from Wanli Bridge, but its construction is even more impressive than Huaiyuan Post in Jiangning. It occupies a wide area, has tall gates and big houses, and exquisite tiles. It is no less impressive than the Prime Minister's Mansion in Jiangning.

Due to etiquette, Lang Boyan did not accompany Song Zheng in, but asked Lang Boyan to ask the postman to take good care of the envoy and do his best to meet his needs.

Song Zheng thanked him again and entered Huailai Station with Lang Boyan.

According to the previous introduction, Song Zheng knew that the entire Huailaiyi was circular and was divided into four regions: southeast, southeast, and northwest. They corresponded to the countries in the four directions around Shu. The west was Tubo, the north was Xixia, and the south was Dali and the Southeast Asian countries. .The east side should supposedly correspond to Daqi, but this area is divided into two areas, one is Daqi and the other is Dajin.

Shu does not border Dajin, and its relationship with Daqi is also very tense. Therefore, the two largest countries have the fewest embassies, and they are all crowded in the east area. As for the middle part of each area, there is a three-story Huixian Tower. .

Huixian Tower is run by the government and specifically serves envoys from various countries. Here, there are chefs from all over the world who can cook a variety of dishes with different ethnic characteristics, and the prices are extremely reasonable. It is also a place where envoys from various countries communicate with each other and discuss state affairs. Good place to go.

The security work of the entire Huaiyuan Station is entirely in charge of the Dianqian Division. There are special silver medals for entry and exit, and the defense is very tight. There will be no fights with each other, which will damage the national system.

The courtyard arranged for Song Zheng was named Ziqiyuan, which naturally got its name from "Ziqi Donglai". Ziqiyuan is a courtyard with two entrances, the front yard is guarded by servants and the rear yard is for official envoys. .

When Song Zheng arrived at Ziqi Garden, there were already four servant girls and ten soldiers kneeling to greet him at the entrance. These people would be at Song Zheng's disposal during his stay in Shu.

When you step into the courtyard, your eyes suddenly open up. The ground is flat and wide, and is paved with flat blue bricks in the auspicious pattern of hanging fishes. On both sides of the door are carriages and horses and stables. On the west side are the wing rooms, and on the east side are plants against the wall. There is a row of hibiscus trees. The main house in front is very beautiful with carved beams and paintings.

Inside the house, whether it is tables, chairs, screens or wooden frames, they are all hollowed out and carved, and are extremely exquisite. Especially the scrolls on the walls are all made of precious Shu embroidery, and they are decorated with clusters of flowers, which are beautiful.

"Sir, you must be tired after traveling a long distance. You can rest first. If you need anything, just give your instructions. I won't bother you. I'll come back to see you sir tomorrow morning."

Song Zheng said politely, "My Second Highness has been with me all the way. Song is grateful. His Highness has returned to Chengdu for the first time. He must be busy with a lot of things, so don't let Song Zheng miss you. Song Zheng will rest for two days first, and then he will visit His Highness at his residence."

The two exchanged pleasantries and waved goodbye.

After seeing off Lang Boyan, Song Zheng let out a long breath. He first greeted the sergeants, got to know their names and places of origin one by one, and laughed and chatted for nearly half an hour. Only then did he really feel at ease, hastily finished his dinner, and walked to the backyard. .

A servant named Zhu You, about thirty years old, followed Song Zheng and introduced him one by one.

The backyard is different from the front yard. It is not only full of flowers and trees, but also has ponds, rockeries, covered bridges and pavilions. It is a good place to rest. Not only that, there is also a half-acre flat land with various weapons and stone locks next to it. , bows and arrows, etc.

The rooms in the backyard have also been arranged. Both the bedroom and the study are extremely fresh. The four treasures of the study and various books in the study are all exquisite, while the porcelain, calligraphy and paintings in the bedroom are also quite elegant.

Song Zheng nodded secretly. Huailai Station was much better than Jiangning's Huaiyuan Station inside and out. Da Qi had enemies from all sides, and Pang Dalai was a butcher, which made diplomacy a mess in the past few decades. And In the Shu Kingdom, the founding emperor Lang Yuben was a general of the former Song Dynasty, and was higher than Pang Butcher. He imitated the previous Song Dynasty in everything and made Huailai Station really good.

Although Da Qi and Shu had not communicated with each other for many years, Shu did not stop maintaining Ziqi Garden, and before Song Zheng came, all the furnishings were replaced with new ones. Song Zheng was extremely satisfied with this attitude of hospitality. .

It was getting late at night, and Song Zheng couldn't sleep anymore. He walked into the courtyard, breathed in the air of Chengdu, and had a lot of thoughts in his heart. Children, parents, Gu Zhengjie and other ordinary brothers all passed before his eyes one by one, far away from their homeland. How can I not miss her? There is also Su Chan, I don’t know how she is doing.

In the vast darkness of the night, the melodious sound of the flute came from nowhere, playing an unknown ditty. The sound was melodious, sad but not sad, as if a wanderer was missing his hometown, containing infinite nostalgia.

Song Zheng listened for a while, feeling increasingly uneasy. He had no choice but to go back to the study and look through the books. It didn't matter, but he discovered something very interesting.

There are hundreds of books of various kinds, most of which are poems and songs. Among them, there is actually a collection of poems of my own. Not only the ones I wrote a few years ago, but also the poems I wrote on the road from Jiangning to Fengjie. Only some recent ones that fit the occasion. The poems were not included. Song Zheng secretly thought that Xiaoyun must have contributed to these poems spreading so quickly and being printed into a collection of poems. But he didn't know why she was so famous for herself.

Reading further, Song Zheng made another discovery. Among the books were Song Jue's "Neo-Confucian Justice" and a storytelling booklet from when he was taking the martial arts exam. Xu Mingxuan had specially invited two storytelling commentators to tell his story. I created it and preached it in bookstores. Unexpectedly, it flowed into Shu Kingdom.

What surprised Song Zheng the most were the other two books, "History of Calligraphy" and "History of Painting". They were written when he was browsing the collection of materials from the royal family of the former Song Dynasty in the Zhongdu Palace of Dajin. Unexpectedly, they also became books. Song Zheng Zheng couldn't understand why I couldn't see these two books in Daqi, but I saw these in the Shu State Posthouse?

Looking at the signature again, it was the word "Song Zheng". Song Zheng was even more confused. Did Wanyan Yusheng deliberately print the book to make himself famous in Shu?

What Song Zheng didn't know was that his current reputation was unparalleled in Chengdu. If it hadn't been late when he arrived in Chengdu, and he spent too long on the road, there would have been a crowd of thousands of people in Chengdu to greet him. situation.

(This is a transitional chapter, a civil and military struggle will slowly begin the war.)