Chapter 49 speak out

Dong Xiaowan's worries are not unfounded.Maoxiang did change her mind temporarily and did not go to Suzhou to pick her up as promised.He took Maocheng and two other servants to Nanjing early by himself.On the night when Dong Xiaowan braved the downpour to look for him by the Shantang River, Mao Xiang was holding a banquet in the Taoyehe room where he stayed by the Qinhuai River. He rushed to Nanjing this time, not so much because he was preparing for the exam, but because he was in a bad mood.Strange to say, even though his father's matter was completely resolved, the imperial court had issued an order to let Mao Qizong leave Zuo Liangyu's army and go to Baoqing, Hunan to take office.From then on, he no longer needed to travel around to ask for help, to spy on the faces of the powerful.However, all this did not make Mao Xiang easier.When the initial burst of excitement and joy was over, he began to become sullen again.As for the reason, there is no particular reason.Not because of the current situation.Although the current situation is indeed quite tense, since Zhang Xianzhong's peasant army conquered Luzhou in May, they have successively fallen into Wuwei and Lujiang, and they have deployed naval forces in Chaohu Lake, and they are likely to march into the south of the Yangtze River.Recently, Lu Jiude, the eunuch of the supervising army, ordered the two armies of Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo, the commander-in-chief, to attack, but they were defeated on the front line of Xiashan.Now Huang Degong has retreated to Dingyuan.However, Mao Xiang estimated that the Ming Dynasty still had heavy troops guarding the Yangtze River, and the peasant army would not be able to attack it all at once.He is not because of Chen Yuanyuan, that is already a thing of the past.Besides, he Maoxiang would not take a woman so seriously.As for Dong Xiaowan, in Mao Xiang's mind, the weight is even lighter... In short, even he himself can't explain why, he just feels bored and bored in his heart, and can't get excited about anything.Although he was sitting in front of the banquet as the host at the moment, he silently watched the delighted guests with a cold, even disgusted mood.It was only when he had no other choice that he occasionally added a sentence or two, or made a faint smile.

Originally, Mao Xiang didn't have the intention to set up a banquet for the guests, but Gu Gao and Mei Lang came to the door in a hurry, saying that many members of the community have come to Nanjing one after another recently, and it is rare to see them on weekdays. And explained that he was going to be ripped off.It's hard for Mao Xiang to refuse, although due to the famine in the village and the fact that he spent a lot of money for his father's affairs, he is no longer as rich as before, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and take out a hundred taels of silver, and let them go get it.As a result, there were quite a few guests who came tonight. Besides Mei and Gu, there were also Wu Yingji, Chen Zhenhui, Yu Huai, Zhang Dai, and Maoxiang's worship brothers Chen Liang, Lu Zhaolong, and other friends who knew and didn't know each other. , there were as many as twenty or thirty people in total; Gu Mei and Li Shiniang were invited to drink wine, and five seats were set up in the water pavilion.Maoxiang, Chen Zhenhui, Mei Langzhong, Yu Huai, Zhang Dai and Li Shiniang shared a seat.At the banquet, everyone chatted about some news and interesting things. Because Mao Xiang always showed a cold demeanor, the people at the same table were influenced by him, and the atmosphere was never warm.In contrast, the other seats were guessing and ordering, laughing and shouting, very lively.Chen Zhenhui had discovered this situation a long time ago, but she couldn't figure out why Mao Xiang was like this, so it was hard to ask.Yu Huai and Zhang Dai couldn't stand the solitude, so they excused a toast, left their seats, went to a table next to them, and stayed there for a long time without coming back.This time, the atmosphere at the table became even colder.In the end, even Mei Langzhong couldn't sit still, showing that he wanted to leave from time to time.Seeing this, Chen Zhenhui had no choice but to stop Mei Langzhong with her eyes, and at the same time got up to drag Yu and Zhang back.But Mao Xiang remained the same, unchanged.He pretended not to see Chen Zhenhui's inquiring winks several times in a row.Chen Zhenhui had no choice but to find a topic to break the deadlock when she suddenly heard someone say loudly:

"You and I don't need to argue, just ask Dingsheng to comment!" Chen Zhenhui looked back, and saw that Chen Liang, with a square face and big eyes, was walking over staggeringly, holding Gu Gao.Both of them seemed to drink a lot, Chen Liang was flushed from the face to the neck, but Gu Gao's face was a little blue.Each of them was holding a wine glass in one hand, while holding each other with the other hand, they were already very drunk. Chen Zhenhui couldn't help smiling, and asked, "Oh, what do you want me to do? I can't fight wine!" "No!" Chen Liang let go of Gu Gao, waved his hand, and hiccupped, "That's what happened! I said just now that from the first year of Chongzhen to this year, the prime ministers have changed. Four...forty-three people, but he insisted, insisted that it was forty-four. The younger brother asked him to count, but he counted—er, he couldn't count, and the younger brother asked, fined...he drank, but he was still not convinced. Sister, you, you come and judge, this wine should...should not be punished? Tell me!"

Chen Zhenhui said "Oh", and said with a smile: "This is confusing for you, I really haven't counted it in detail!" He turned around and asked the people at the table: "Brother, who has counted, how much is it? "After hearing this, everyone present looked at each other in blank dismay, and shook their heads in doubt.Chen Zhenhui had no choice but to turn to other tables and asked loudly: "Brothers! Zeliang and Zifang just asked me how many chancellors have been changed during the fifteen years of this dynasty? My younger brother is ignorant and can't answer. Does anyone know?"

The people in the other seats stopped talking when they heard his question;It wasn't until Chen Zhenhui repeated it that everyone started whispering.Enthusiastic, start counting.Finally, a scholar slapped the table, jumped up and confirmed loudly, "It's forty-four people." Chen Zhenhui looked back and recognized Feng Ban, so she smiled, cupped her hands and said, "Aha! Brother Dingyuan has a good memory after all! Dare I ask for details?" Feng Ban didn't answer first, picked up the wine glass, drank it down, pushed the scarf behind his head, scratched his messy hair, and then counted with his fingers: "In the first year of Chongzhen, there are: Shi Fenglai, Zhang Ruitu, Li Guopu, Lai Zongdao, Yang Jingchen, Li Biao, Liu Hongxun, Zhou Dengdao, Qian Longxi, Han; two years: Cheng Jiming, Sun Chengzong, Zhou Yanru, He Ruchong, Qian Xiangkun; three years: Wen Tiren, Wu Zongda; Five years: Zheng Yiwei, Xu Guangqi; Six years: Qian Shisheng, Wang Yingxiong, He Wunu; Eight years: Wen Zhenmeng, Zhang Zhifa; Nine years: Lin, Kong Zhenyun, He Fengsheng, Huang Shijun; Ten years: Liu Yuliang, Fu Guan, Xue Guoguan; eleven years: Yang Sichang, Cheng Guoxiang, Cai Guoyong, Fang Fengnian, Fan Fucui; twelve years: Yao Minggong, Zhang Sizhi, Wei Zhaocheng; thirteen years: Xie Sheng, Chen Yan; fifteen years: Jiang Dejing, Huang Jingfang, Wu There are forty-four people in total!"

Seeing Feng Ban memorize it all at once, Chen Zhenhui admired him for his good memory, and was about to praise him a few words, when someone from another table said calmly, "Well, no, I still owe one more." Chen Zhenhui followed the sound and found that the person who spoke was tall and thin, and was almost a head taller than the person sitting on the chair. It turned out to be Feng Ban's brother Feng Shu. Before Chen Zhenhui could speak, Feng Ban said angrily: "Nonsense! If you don't owe one, it means forty-four people!" "No, it's forty-five people." Feng Shu was still so slow.

"Forty-four!" "forty five." "Well, tell me, who is that one? Tell me!" "You might as well think again." "I can't think of it, I want you to say it! Tell me, do you hear me?" Feng Ban yelled with his neck straightened, his eyes staring as if they were going to pop out of their sockets, and the rosaceous nose became even redder, like an angry cat rooster. Feng Shu didn't pay any attention to his younger brother. "It's all right for me to tell you," he said slowly, "but I mean to ask you to think for yourself first, and you don't even think about it and you ask me; then I have to think Thinking about it, is it okay to promise you like this? Of course, this is not good. So I can't tell you. "

The guests present couldn't help laughing when they saw their brothers making such an argument.At the same time, he also guessed who the missing one Feng Shu said was.Some people said it was Huang Liji, others said it was not, and some even raised objections to the people Feng Ban had already counted.So they expressed their opinions and argued with each other, and the result became more and more confused.Chen Zhenhui saw that there was no result in the dispute, so she sighed, smiled wryly, and said to Chen Liang and Gu Gao, "In fifteen years, the prime minister has changed more than forty people. This fact is unprecedented. Our generation If you are born in this world, if you still don't understand it, people in future generations will be even more confused."

As soon as he finished speaking, Wu Yingji said coldly: "In fifteen years, there are more than forty prime ministers. If all those who enter are gentlemen and those who retreat are villains, that's fine. But in fifteen years, it is There are more villains and fewer gentlemen!" Everyone was silent for a while, as if they were appreciating the connotation of these words.Suddenly someone slapped the table with a "bang" sound: "That's right! I think Wen Tiren, Yang Sichang, and Xue Guoguan are the chief culprits who deceived the emperor and the country!" "Good scolding! There are also Wang Yongguang, Cai Guoyong, and Xie Sheng!" another shouted.

"Where is Qian Shisheng? This man is not a good guy either!" Another deep voice rang out. Someone expressed doubts: "Qian Shisheng is not a villain..." But he was immediately refuted by several people in unison: "He hired Tang Shiji!" "He forced Wen Zhenmeng away!" "He is an adulterer with Wen Tiren!" "he……" "Hey, everyone, how is this one today? I mean 'Zhou'!" A high-pitched voice overwhelmed the audience.It was a scholar in his early twenties, his young eyes sparkled with excitement. Everyone suddenly fell silent.Because Zhou Yanru is currently in charge of the government, and recently he has been very courteous to the people in Donglin and has been used a lot.Not only is it inconvenient to judge him, but it seems a bit difficult...

"Hmph, what's the point?" In the silence, Wu Yingji's voice pierced like a knife, "'Zhou' is cowardly and greedy, trying to gain fame!" Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then echoed loudly, with cheers mixed in.This cheering expressed admiration for Wu Yingji's courage, as well as the pleasure and satisfaction they got from such unscrupulous discussions. Faced with this warm and exciting scene, Mao Xiang sat quietly all the time, without saying a word.In the old days he would have been there long ago, and would have managed to wow the audience with his most passionate emotions, his deepest judgments, and his most unexpected quips.But now, he felt that all this was so dull and boring. "It's always like this! It's just a bone to gnaw over and over again. I'm so tired!" He thought silently, picked up the glass casually, but found that he had already drank it dry.He was about to reach out to fetch the jug, when a woman's white and soft hand stretched out beside him, gently holding him down.Maoxiang looked back and saw that it was Li Shiniang.Shiniang smiled quietly, got up and took the jug, filled it up for him, and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, I heard that you are with Xiao Wan——but is it true?" Mao Xiang was slightly taken aback, looked up at Li Shiniang, and found that her beautiful slender eyes were staring at him, so he looked away and responded vaguely. "What?" Li Shiniang stared at him and asked. "Well, it's still uncertain!" Maoxiang had no choice but to respond.After that, in order to divert the topic away, he looked up and looked around, and asked, "Do you know why Mr. Hou Chaozong didn't come?" "Oh, you don't know, my lord? These days, Mr. Hou and Mr. Xiang have been fighting fiercely. They hide in the Meixiang Building all day long. I just heard that they went to Yanziji yesterday. Didn't come back!" Maoxiang let out an "oh", and was about to say, "I thought he was still in Henan to accompany his lord, but he had already hidden in the Meixiang Building!" Suddenly, Li Shiniang's eyelids turned red for some reason. , There was also a look of sadness on his face.He stopped temporarily, and at the same time felt that this expression was very familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere not long ago...Suddenly, he remembered, it was Dong Xiaowan!Yes, during the days when he was with Dong Xiaowan, she often showed such an expression. "I didn't pick her up this time as promised. I don't know what will happen to her? I'm afraid she will still look forward to that small building today, with the same expression on her face?" He squinted at Li Shiniang , There was a trace of uneasiness in my heart.However, before this kind of emotion spread, the servant pretended to approach him in a hurry and presented a vermilion paper greeting card. Mao Xiang took it in a trance, opened it, and read inside: Mao Xiang was taken aback and asked, "Where are the guests?" When Baocheng reported that Shi Kefa's sedan chair was about to arrive, he got up in a hurry, stood up, whispered a few words in Chen Zhenhui's ear, and hurried out.