the enlightener says

Chapter 666 There Are Arrays in the City

Jianye City is located in a water town, and it is often foggy when you wake up in the morning, and it is even more so today. The sun shines in the layers of fog, as if separated by a layer of veil. The palace hall brightened up.

And at the gate, the old eunuch Wang Gonggong lowered his head and respectfully said to Gao Chang who had just arrived: "General, the prime minister is waiting for you."

Gao Changgong also put on a dress when he got the news, the neckline was slightly open, and he looked a little casual, but after all, no servant dared to say that he was "disrespectful" in person, and he himself didn't care too much about those "high-skilled masters" ", nodding his head and then asked: "Did you stay up all night again?"

Wang Gonggong replied methodically with soft eyes: "I slept for two hours at night, and in the morning it seemed that some cats used to catch mice in the palace passed by and hit the flower pot. The Prime Minister woke up suddenly and never fell asleep again. "

"I see, please pay more attention next time, Wang Gonggong. Wanling has always been a light sleeper, those cats..." Gao Changgong thought for a while, knowing that Zhuge Wanling always loves these sensitive little things, and he can't. It's too much, "When he falls asleep, it's better to drive aside as much as possible."

"The old slave knows." The prince replied softly, "General, please go in quickly, don't keep the prime minister waiting for a long time."

Gao Changgong didn't say any more, stepped over the steps and deliberately pushed away from Wang Gonggong, and only one person could walk in through the crack of the door. After a dozen steps forward, the slightly flickering candle was close in front of his eyes.

He showed some smiles and said: "What is it that disturbs people so early in the morning that they can't sleep? This is my first night back in Jingwu, and I am the most exhausted. People say that I would rather be three years old and have no mother than leave at five o'clock. Bed, I can't stand your torment."

Zhuge Wanling was writing and drawing on the bamboo slips with a pen, when he heard the words, he also smiled and said: "The great general who crosses the battlefield speaks like a little wife and complains, maybe it's because it's cold and lonely to stay alone in an empty room, so You came to me to complain? How about this, a new batch of maidservants has arrived in the palace, you can pick a few and go back to warm the bed."

"Warm your ass." Gao Changgong went to Zhuge Wanling, pointed at his nose and scolded with a smile: "I still have the face to say that I am a general, but you are the only prime minister? A dog can't spit out ivory, and a brothel bustard can speak better than you. Anyway, people can find some elegant words to refer to."

"I would like to be more reserved, but unfortunately your elderly father has complained to me for countless times, wishing to ask me directly if there is some hidden disease in your body that can't be done, what can I say?"

Gao Changgong stared, knowing that his father is now forcing marriages into a frenzy, and he can really do such a thing: "How did you answer?"

"What do you want me to say? Yes or no?" Zhuge Wanling stretched his brows, "If there is, it will be settled once and for all, but in this way, you will not be able to hold your head up in front of your father in the future. If you say no, he must He said he wanted me to forcefully marry him... I also found several excuses to fool your father back."

Gao Changgong heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that the trick of procrastinating words will work after all, curled his lips and said: "You still have eyesight, I owe you once, and I will pay you back in the future."

The two looked at each other for a moment, and both laughed.

Zhuge Wanling picked up a roll of bamboo slips on the table, handed it to Gao Changgong and said, "Qin Ke asked Gongjin to send it, you should read it too."

"Sent by Qin Ke? Don't let us go to Cai Yong's mansion in Tang Dynasty to propose marriage?" Gao Changgong joked again, but when he opened the bamboo slips and saw the silk inside, his eyes became dignified. The Northwest Arrival, was entrusted by Yanling, please be careful, Brother Zhuge... Who wrote it?"

"The one from Jiujiang City." Zhuge Wanling said.

Gao Changgong was slightly surprised: "Yingzhen? Could it be that he also betrayed like Xiang Chu?"

Zhuge Wanling shook his head, noncommittal to Gao Changgong's statement: "After the lord of the Tang Kingdom passed away, they had no restraint, and their own thoughts became more. But in my opinion, he is different from Xiang Chu. Xiang Chu He has a rebellious temperament and never wants to be restrained, but Yingzhen... has always been a person who can weigh the pros and cons, I am afraid he wants to see the situation and investigate which side is more worthy of his cooperation."

"So this is a signal from him to us." Gao Changgong looked at the words on the silk thoughtfully, and said, "He wants to show us his goodwill in advance, to show his sincerity, but at the same time Willing to reveal too much to us, and only give this little clue. Tsk, people with deep thoughts are really scary."

Zhuge Wanling looked at Gao Changgong and frowned, feeling that someone was pointing fingers at Sang Huai.

"This word is really poorly written." Gao Changgong didn't care about Zhuge Wanling's divergent thoughts, he laughed and threw down the bamboo slips to change the subject, "What should come must come, we discussed it at the beginning, those people can't be indifferent to us all the time , especially now that we have obtained the Five Elements Sinan, the war will happen sooner or later, rather than worrying about it, it is better to face it generously."

The corners of Zhuge Wanling's mouth turned up, but he admired Gao Changgong's composure like Gao Changgong's calmness before the collapse of the mountain, not only did not change his color, but even wanted to go up to see a scene: "I will let the people from the school affairs office follow the line to investigate the matter of the monster. If there is any news, I will communicate with you in time. I will also communicate with Yingzhen more to test his ideas. I called you today because I want you to send an army to Jiujiang. Contingency, secondly, there is an army watching, no matter what kind of calculations you really have to win, you have to be more scruples."

"Understood. Leave the military affairs to me. Is 1 people enough? Enough to turn Yingzhen's industries upside down in one day." Gao Changgong laughed, "Speaking of the school office, this matter is also for the public. Jin should find something to do, lest he know how to abduct other girls all day long."

"Uncle Zhou." Gao Changgong imitated Qiao Feifan's tone with an exaggerated expression, "Listen to what people shouted, this is not a generation, how can there be such a good thing for nothing in the world."

After finishing speaking, he paused, lowered his eyebrows and looked down, looked at the word monster on the bamboo slip, and said slowly: "To be honest, I don't think this is the most troublesome thing, after all, no matter how powerful the monster is, After all, it is not as scary as a certain 'witch'. Don't you worry that she will find a way to sneak into the city and set fire to your bed sooner or later after going around outside?"

He didn't say the demon girl's name, but even if Zhuge Wanling was a fool, he should be able to guess who he was talking about.

And what he said "going around" actually has its own reasons.

Since the establishment of Jingwu City, Jianye City has been secretly building a large formation. In the process of day after day, I don't know how much money in the treasury was spent. Putting on the official robe, he lay upright outside the hall and pretended to be dead.

Sometimes Gao Changgong also felt that these scholars, seemingly refined, actually had a taste of hooligans in their bones, and the generals were not as relaxed as they were when it came to cursing and fighting in the court.

Zhuge Wanling also spent a lot of effort to persuade him at the beginning, I am afraid that this matter will have to be spread and become a big joke of Jing Wu.

However, the big formation must be repaired, and the effect of this big formation cannot be more obvious.

According to the news from the investigation by the school affairs office these days, the saint Luo Fengchu who fled from the Mohist battlefield is now circling outside Jianye City. If this large formation is withdrawn, the head of the palace may have to fly out A phoenix is ​​not enough.

"The formation can hold her back for at least three months." Zhuge Wanling said calmly, "It depends on whether you can pass the threshold completely within these three months."

"I knew this matter had to fall on me." Gao Changgong complained, feeling that this great general was a bit tired of being both a father and a mother for Jing Wu.

"But the past between you and her..."

Gao Changgong stopped abruptly, and finally sighed: "Forget it, some things are up to you to decide, I just hope you don't regret it in the future."

Zhuge Wanling closed his lips tightly, stood up from the sitting position expressionlessly, stretched his body gently, walked all the way to the gate of the main hall, and looked at the sun gradually rising from the white mist in the sky: "These things are in my heart." There are a lot. Today is a good day, why don't you come out of the palace with me?"

"It's a good day?" Gao Changgong has never been in the habit of going out to read the almanac, but he understood after a little thought, and looked at the thin back with a smile, "It's rare that you have such a heart for that child. How about going to the shop in Chunhuafang to eat bean curds? I’ll pay for it, so I’ll keep my fill.”

Chapter 667 Too Few Clues

On the other side, Qin Ke, who had just finished eating porridge and stuffed buns with meat, was talking softly with Gongsunli, while Cai Yan, who was on the side, was playing with Xiao Hei, who was a little reluctant but still made various cute moves under the temptation of food, Interject a few words now and then.

"Although I really want to help you, but for now, the clues you gave may not be enough to save your gang leader." Qin Ke said to Gongsunli, "Apart from the word 'sister and brother', do you still listen to me?" Have you been to anything else?"

Gongsunli frowned, clutching the iron umbrella on his lap with both hands, after thinking for a long time, he finally shook his head and said, "I don't understand barbarian language, and the group of barbarians who handed over the goods to us are basically talking to the deputy gang leader. I don’t know the specific details of what Xue Yang explained. I can only hear them saying “sister and brother” several times in Middle-earth. But I think, since the group of barbarians specifically isolated this word, they not only repeated it several times, but even verbalized it. There is something respectful in it, at least the word must have some meaning."

Qin Ke nodded, but still confused, he could only lower his head and mutter twice: "Sister and brother..."

Is this talking about people?A pair of siblings?No... Since their words are respectful, if there are two siblings, then it shouldn't be the case.The barbarians don't understand the language of the Middle Earth, so they naturally speak with a wrong accent, and even the word "sister and brother" is not the same.Heart disease, connection, connection, borrowing...

For a moment Qin Ke felt his head was as big as a bucket, turned to look at Cai Yan and said, "What do you think?"

Cai Yan was putting a bit of diced meat into Xiao Hei's mouth, then he blinked his eyes and said, "You don't think I'm a god, you can know it just by two words that you can't even figure out Who is behind this scene?"

"That's true." Qin Ke is no exception to this. If Cai Yan can really catch clues based on this alone, then he is not a mortal, but a god.

And Gongsunli lowered his head, and said with some shame: "I'm sorry, I know that my clues are really not counted as clues, so I didn't dare to go to the school affairs office, I only dared to come to you."

However, Cai Yan still gave some suggestions: "As far as I am concerned, the word 'sister and brother' is still in the second place. Since I know that it is a group of barbarians who handed over the goods to the Shuangsha Gang, then I should check what happened in those days. Here, how many barbarian caravans have entered the city, and how many of them have been to the areas under the jurisdiction of the Shuangsha Gang, and then specifically look for some that may behave strangely. After all, Miss Gongsun..."

"Just call me Ali."

"Well, Miss A Li." Cai Yan nodded and said, "Anyway, Miss A Li, you have seen those barbarians before. If you are in front of you, you can always recognize who and what appeared that day. Follow this line line, maybe we can find something."

The more Gongsunli heard it, the more he felt that this matter was feasible, and he became excited for a while: "Miss Cai is really amazing, if she is so, maybe she can really save the leader..."

But Cai Yan had to pour cold water first: "Don't get too excited, for a big city like Jianye City, it is very common for barbarian caravans to come and go, although it is easier to distinguish compared with ordinary caravans, But according to what you said, nearly half a month has passed since this incident. Who knows if those barbarians are still in the city? You must know that once they leave the city, it will be difficult to get them back even if they are chased by officials. And even if they are still in the city, It is also common for fish to slip through the net after layers of screening, after all, this method is too complicated, and it is impossible to catch all the barbarians and let you examine them."

What she said was true, but helplessly, Gongsunli seemed to be holding on to a life-saving straw and could only struggle to survive. For a while, she bit her lip, stood up suddenly, and looked at Qin Ke and Cai Yan. He saluted respectfully and said, "Anyway, please help me, both of you. The old gang leader treated me very well, I can't just watch him be beheaded for public display."

Qin Ke quickly helped Gongsunli to stand up, and said sincerely: "Don't do this, we will definitely help with the matter. As far as it is concerned, Chief Xue will not be on the execution ground in a short time. Let's follow the example first." Check the line and let you know the result."

Gongsunli's eyes were slightly red, and he nodded: "Thank you, young master."

When Gongsun Li left, Qin Ke looked at Cai Yan and said in a low voice, "What did you do by pulling the corner of my clothes just now, is there anything you can't say?"

"Are you really going to help her?" Cai Yan asked.

"Is something wrong?"

Cai Yan shook her head and said: "As far as I can see now, it is difficult for the Xue family to rule out suspicion, so I doubt if you will help her to the end. Don't ask why, you didn't hear her say that this matter is Is Xue Yang, the deputy leader, responsible? Xue Yang is Xue Gong's younger brother. He is fleeing outside, and he is likely to abscond in fear of crime. Xue Yang must be buried with him because of his continuous sitting."

After all, the laws of Jingwu came first, and the armor that Xue’s private possession has far exceeded the number of capital crimes. Unless everyone in Xue’s family is innocent, as long as anyone is involved in this, in the end, no matter whether it is Dali Temple or the school’s office, , will put the entire Xue family to death.

Thinking of this joint, Qin Ke's face turned ugly for a while, but he still nodded heavily with goodwill in his heart: "I always want to investigate this case, and it would be best if the result can be as Miss A Li wants. But if you can't... then at least you have tried your best, so is it true that the crime of sitting still has not been reversed?"

"Yes, as long as the Xue family's title is high enough, such as a hero in the court, it can naturally be cut to avoid some of the crimes. But do you think the Xue family has this thing?" Cai Yan rolled his eyes.

Of course, she was satisfied with Qin Ke's answer, so in the end she showed a bright smile again, and her two small canine teeth looked very cute: "But I feel more at ease when I hear you say that, I'm afraid you will die. The human temper has flared up again, always wanting to exonerate others.”

"It's not like I used to be..." Qin Ke said a little shyly.

"In short, now we can use two prongs. On the one hand, we can look for Xue Yang's traces and capture him. Perhaps a lot of things will come to light; The armor should be used in Jianye City, no matter whether it is Canghai Tang, it is impossible to attack Jianye in a short period of time, so it is more likely to be an internal strife, and less likely to be an external enemy."

In fact, Cai Yan and Gao Yishui are probably two completely different types of people. Although both of them seem to be fooling around, Gao Yishui was born in the Jianghu, and he has been struggling to gain insight into people's hearts. Naturally, he can deal with it with ease.

And Cai Yan was born in a family, familiar with the scriptures, calm and broad-minded, often able to see the affairs of the temple clearly, and find a thread from it, but Gao Yishui was more in charge of planning before, so Cai Yan Yan is not overly brilliant.

But today, after listening to Cai Yan's words, Qin Ke was filled with emotions for a moment, thinking that he really didn't know what good things he did in his previous life, that he had two "advisors" to advise him one after another.

And even luckier, this little counselor is still by his side.

So he took Cai Yan's soft hand and grinned: "Then let's go, let's go to the school affairs office to look at the case file."

Chapter 668 Crown Ceremony

But before leaving, the two still need to help Ning Xin with some housework.

Since Zhang Fu left, Ning Xin has been doing the housework alone, from washing and cooking to shopping for rice in the cart. This kind of life has also made her delicate hands rough, and she can even see some tiny hands. scars.

Although Ning Xin was born in poverty when she was a child, she is no stranger to these sufferings, but Qin Ke looked at the back of Ning Xin sitting on a small bench and struggling to rub her clothes, and always felt that he owed her a little bit, and he was very worried about finding a new residence and hiring servants The need to take good care of Ning Xin became more urgent.

Speaking of which, I seem to be quite rich now?When Qin Ke lowered his head to wash the dishes, he silently counted the gains from the journey. First, Zhuge Wanling gave him money, but he handed most of it to Gao Yishui and didn't want to come back. Now it seems that all the money will have to be sprinkled on Ji There are brothels and restaurants in the city.

However, when Gongshu Yinxue left, someone gave him a wooden box, inside which was neatly stacked three hundred gold, and even put a few precious night pearls, saying that such things are easy to carry, And it can be easily exchanged for urgent money in the big city - but he has not moved a cent of this property so far. After all, he has always regarded his status as "husband-in-law" as an agreement with Gongshu Yinxue.

In addition, he sold animal skins along the way and got a lot of money for various reasons. Now he works in the school office and has a stable source of income. He wants to buy a big house in Jianye City in the future The hospital is not difficult.

Of course, he didn't think there was anything good about the mansion of Gaomen. The largest mansion in Jianye City was Jingwu Palace, but he went there several times and didn't feel comfortable living there. The servants walking with their heads down and walking in small steps felt an indescribable sense of oppression in the huge but lonely hall.

If possible, he would rather only have a small courtyard, plant some flowers and plants under the fence, and raise two lazy and greedy cats. You can lie on the straw mat under the grape trellis and take a nap.

Well, maybe you can spare some spare time to look for it, see if you can find someone you can trust to take care of it, so that when you leave Jingwu to find the artifact, my sister will not make any mistakes again.

Abu entered the small courtyard when he was washing the dishes and daydreaming. He first bowed to Ning Xin politely, and then said to Qin Ke in a hurry: "Ah Ke, don't be too busy. I just found out that my parents said that the crowning ceremony of Jianye City was earlier this year, that today was selected by divination, and that they happened to celebrate the return of the great general together, if you don’t go, I’m afraid you won’t be included in the roster.”

In fact, this can be regarded as a custom in various places. From the perspective of etiquette, when a man reaches the age of [-], he must be crowned to indicate an adult. From now on, even if he has the qualifications to start a family and start a business, placing it in the emperor's house will represent a man. It is of great significance that people are enough to formally take charge of state affairs.

The crown ceremonies of the families of the nobles and nobles are all held in their own ancestral halls, and there is no need to involve outsiders, but most of the ordinary people do not understand the etiquette, let alone those complicated ceremonies, so in many places, they invite the local people who are respected and familiar Ritual old people hold a ceremony to crown the young people.

Jianye City is like this.

It was also the first time for Qin Ke to see the Crowning Ceremony in Jianye City, but he never imagined that it could be held in such a grand manner. The approach was so crowded that even the shops on the street were hung with red silk, and the voice of the hawker selling candied haws was particularly loud. .

"The crown ceremony is the crown ceremony. What does this have to do with celebrating Gao Changgong's return to court..." Qin Ke felt a little helpless seeing how crowded the crowd was.

"After all, according to the military system of Jingwu, men who have passed the crown ceremony can join the army. Brother Chang Gong is so famous now, naturally many people think that Erlang can go out with the army and make contributions." Abu also guessed , but eighty-nine are not far from ten.

"But if you don't have the crown ceremony, don't you still have military status?" Qin Ke actually didn't expect the crown ceremony as he imagined, but he didn't understand why Zhuge Wanling cared so much about it, and even mentioned it to him in the hall that day. One sentence.

"Of course we are different..." Abu rubbed his nose with a wry smile, "People in the Taixuetang already have an extra imperial salary. Once the higher-ups ask for it, we have no reason and no qualification to refuse. And those gentry children, Many people feel that it is better to go to the battlefield as soon as possible. If they can make meritorious service a few years earlier, they will be promoted in the future, and the family status will naturally be more stable."

Qin Ke nodded, and looked at Cai Yan who was looking around curiously. It is said that her two elder brothers joined the army very early, and they got such high titles after following Cai Yong all the time.

Several people walked forward and finally squeezed into the registration place. Qin Ke and Abu showed their badges symbolizing military status. The registration officials only took a look and guessed that they were from the Imperial Academy, respectfully Carefully wrote down Qin Ke's name.

"You go, we won't go in." Abu said to Qin Ke.

Qin Ke nodded, and followed those same young people, the flames in the cauldron were burning loudly, and even carefully observing, you can see many servants of the Jianye City government office trying their best to maintain order in it, just to let those The well-dressed old people can be left undisturbed.

However, Qin Ke noticed that there were more than a dozen people in front of him, a fat body twisted and seemed to be impossible to hide, and the corners of his mouth were curved, knowing that this must be Xiaoqian who will be crowned this year, and As he looked around, he could still see many familiar faces from Tai Xuetang.

However, this sacrificial ceremony was really exhausting, and it lasted for an hour, until the sun reached the top of the head, and finally all the sacrificial offerings ended, and the elders of each family began to make sacrifices for their own families under the guidance of the old people. The younger generations wear crowns.

It was also at this time that Qin Ke suddenly remembered that he didn't seem to have any relatives or elders...

"This is embarrassing. Before I went out, I forced my sister to rest and didn't let her come. It's good now. After all, Abu didn't remind me..." Qin Ke covered his head, thinking that it's no wonder Ning Xin wanted to speak before going out. And stop.

At this time, an old man presiding over the ceremony came over, saw Qin Ke standing alone, and immediately stared at him: "What's the matter? Where are your parents and elders? What time is it and you are still dawdling, and there will be another one in a while." A group of people needs to be crowned. How can you not pay attention to major events in life..."

Qin Ke didn't expect that he would be reprimanded for a while. He opened his mouth for a while, and felt that he didn't know how to explain it. He could only think about whether he should simply leave. The reason has to be so grand.

But the old man looked at Qin Ke's silent appearance, and even showed an expression of "hate that iron cannot be made into steel", and even quoted scriptures, and gradually began to describe Qin Ke and his elders as representatives who insulted the style of Jianye City up.

The voice grew louder, and even some irrelevant people were attracted. Xiaoqian in front stared and found that it was Qin Ke who was being scolded. He looked weird, but he didn't dare to move.

Qin Ke thought he had a pretty good temper, but it didn't mean he could endure the old man's constant scolding. He squeezed his fist and couldn't do anything, so he shook his head and sighed, ready to turn around and leave.

It should be like this...Family or something...

However, a calm voice sounded slowly.

"Wait a minute," said the man.

When Qin Ke turned his head again, the old man stopped reprimanding him, and even stood there unable to say a word, his widened eyes seemed to be about to fall out of their sockets, and he said "Hey... The sound of "ho" made people feel that he was about to fall to the ground and die suddenly on the spot in the next moment.

However, Qin Ke looked at the figure in the black gown, but somehow felt that the behavior of the old man was normal.

"Cheng...Cheng..." He had only met him once because of the internal affairs of Jianye City, but the old man humbly engraved the appearance of this person in his heart. If he hadn't realized that this place should not be publicized Arriving, I am afraid that my knees have already bent and knelt down.

Chapter 669 I've grown up...

"Don't panic, I'm just here for some private matters." Zhuge Wanling smiled gently, and then waved his hand to signal the old man to continue with his own business.

The old man didn't dare to disobey, so he stopped reprimanding Qin Ke and left without hesitation.

Qin Ke looked at Zhuge Wanling, a little surprised, but also a little puzzled: "You...what are you here for?"

"Aren't you welcome?" Zhuge Wanling showed a gentle smile on his somewhat pale face, "Although I heard that the crowning ceremony in Daoxiang Village only needs the patriarch or Li Zheng to do it, but in Jianye City, the crowning ceremony must be done by relatives and elders. Only in this way can we show grandeur."