Born short-lived

The last thing that pulled Zhou Zirong out of the nightmare was a strange bird call, and the weird and sharp chirping sound seemed to pierce a person's eardrum.

Zhou Zirong's eyelashes trembled slightly, and then he slowly woke up from his sleep, feeling as if he had passed away.The Broken Flame Spiritual Knife was quietly lying beside him, feeling faintly hot, as if it had sensed his restlessness just now.In the early winter morning in the north, the breath turned into frost, but the spirit knife was steaming in the cold air, and the blade was red.It seemed that if Zhou Zirong was more anxious, it would light the bed curtain.

Zhou Zirong blinked his sleepy eyes dully, stared in a daze for a moment before he realized it, then frowned and turned his head to look at the source of the sound - he saw a gray-black bird shadow on the wooden grid The paper window fluttered desperately, and the wings hit the window paper from time to time to make popping sounds.

At this moment, the sky was not yet bright, and there was silence everywhere, and the sound of the bird fluttering and screaming became more and more abrupt.Or suddenly a blessing came to his heart, Zhou Zirong hurriedly got up and opened the window to let it in, so as not to wake up more people.As soon as the gray-white bird came in, it whirled around the room for a few times, and finally landed contentedly on Zhou Zirong's wrist when the fuss was over.

When the little bird stood still, there was only a "poof", and the little bird suddenly turned into a cloud of white smoke.Immediately afterwards, a roll of paper books fell out of it and landed firmly in Zhou Zirong's palm—the art of passing on calligraphy.

Zhou Zirong seemed to feel something, and his heart skipped a beat.

He stretched out the light yellow rough rice paper, and saw eight ugly words spread out on it—"Well, don't read it. Dong Sheng wrote it himself".

Zhou Zirong was taken aback for a moment, then looked around subconsciously.

When he finally came to his senses, there seemed to be a sudden gentle ripple in his heart, softening his whole heart.Zhou Zirong flicked the paper and read these eight characters over and over several times, unexpectedly reading out many feelings out of nothing.As if trying to rub the letter into his eyes, he held it and stared at it for a while.

After a long time, as if he was sure that he could find no other meaning, he finally let go of the piece of letter paper in his hand, raised his eyes to look at the place where the little bird was fluttering outside the window, and looked at the sky in Qingyuan, and the point in his heart Er Lianyi gradually calmed down again.

Where are you?

Zhou Zirong thought in a daze.

When the sky was bright, the missions going to the sea for the meeting were already ready to go at the harbor. A huge carved sailboat with its white sails like clouds was quietly lying in the blue water, and there were four escort ships beside it. The psychic ship is on standby, and a huge psychic halo is shining at the stern, flickering faintly.

In January, the East China Sea is bitterly cold, and the white dew is frosty.Wrapped in black fox fur, Zhou Xi stood in the cold wind of the harbor and greeted and sent off with a group of envoys.

Luo Geng and Luo Chi lined up on both sides of the road, waiting patiently, staying with Zhou Zirong at the end, and sent a group of civil servants and scholars from the capital to the deck with all the courtesy.After finally sending the last civil servant onto the ship with good words, Zhou Zirong turned around and explained to them about the military service in a leisurely manner.

Zhou Zirong said to Luo Chi: "Ah Chi, you take twenty people with you for protection, and you must not let the imperial court officials make any mistakes."

This time, he planned to let Luo Chi accompany him, and leave Luo Geng to sit in the East China Sea.As soon as Luo Chi heard the instructions, he immediately drew a military salute, answered "Yes" with a clang, and went to work without touching the ground.

After watching Luo Chi walk away, Luo Geng turned his head, lowered his voice, and said straight to the point: "I've already started investigating what you said."

Only then did Zhou Zirong put away the charming smile on his face, frowned, and asked, "What's going on?"

Luo Geng sighed, and admitted with a solemn expression: "The incident in the East China Sea is by no means accidental, and there is no groundless rumor in Minzhou. General Zeng also started to investigate before he was alive. A few days ago, my people followed the vines and walked around. Go to Nanyang."

"Nanyang?" Zhou Zirong frowned even tighter, "How dare they let the spirit ghost out? Can they even move it on Hua Xu's head?"

"I don't know," Luo Geng shook his head, "It's just a further investigation. It's the matter of the Southern Border Guards. I'm afraid it's inconvenient for us to get involved."

"Yeah." Zhou Zirong nodded, his foundation is still unstable, and he is on the cusp of a storm.At this time, if you extend your hand too long, you may get a reputation as an overreacher.

Zhou Zirong frowned and thought for a moment, then asked: "Then the southern border guard is still the old general Yang Guiyang?"

"Exactly." Luo Geng replied, with a little doubt in his heart, he asked tentatively, "Why, what did you think of?"

Zhou Zirong thought about it for a while, then smiled calmly, and replied irrelevantly: "I will write him a letter later. But I just have to trouble Kunzhi to tell you about Minzhou and the East China Sea these days. Everything is always in order, write a booklet, no matter how big or small, report it to anyone who can report it, remember to cover the private seal of King Bei Zhao."

"Understood." Luo Geng responded and turned around to retreat.

"and many more."

"Anything else?"

Zhou Zirong's expression relaxed slightly, he hesitated for a moment, and finally said softly; "General Zeng's tomb has not been completed yet, you need to ask people to supervise it. Let Bafu go to the General's Mansion a few more times to count General Zeng Let’s see if there is anything left behind, and bring what should be picked up to the general.”

Luo Geng was stunned for a moment, his eyes dimmed, and he sighed inaudibly; "Okay."

"In addition, let Bafu accompany the old lady to go out and walk around more if there is nothing to do, and don't stay at home all the time."

"Well, don't worry." Luo Geng nodded solemnly, and said goodbye to Zhou Zirong after making sure there was nothing else to do.

Zhou Zirong had a warm smile on his face until he saw that Luo Geng and his group had gone far away, and when there was no one around, his face turned cold again, and he said in a deep voice, "Come out."

I saw an inconspicuous little soldier jumping out from nowhere. This man was completely featureless from head to toe, and he belonged to the type that makes people forget at a glance.Except for Zhou Zirong, almost no one noticed him, and they all turned a blind eye to this transparent person floating around.

"General Zhou." The little soldier stood still in front of Zhou Zirong, with a face that was too ordinary to be more ordinary. Only a pair of black eyes were amazingly bright when he looked at Zhou Xi without squinting.I saw him respectfully kneeling on the ground in front of the other party, with a posture of resigning himself to orders, and said concisely and directly: "There is no news yet."

Despite the expected answer, Zhou Zirong still couldn't help being disappointed, especially after receiving that letter, the long-lost hope was once again shattered.He raised his hand and pressed his chest lightly without any trace—the letter with only eight characters was carefully folded by him, and he held it in his arms like precious gems.

Even the emperor dared to find someone who wanted to hide, Zhou Xi laughed at himself thinking that his courage was really getting bigger and bigger.

After a long silence, he took a deep breath as if impatient, and asked hoarsely with a straight face, "Is there no clue at all?"

The soldier shook his head.

"Then keep looking," Zhou Zirong said with a cold face, "Be quick when you do things, and don't let your handle go."

"In addition, during the days when I'm not here, there will definitely be some minor bumps in the border of the Great Wall. Since Master Lingcha is here to improve the Great Wall, let's make the best use of everything and don't let him sit idle."

"Yes!" Xiao Bing nodded emphatically in response, and then dodged away, and in the blink of an eye, he didn't know where he got into.

After half a stick of incense, the giant ship and the escort fleet left the port on time.

The envoy sent this time was Cabinet Minister Li Chongwen, who was also a rare person in the entire cabinet who would not trip Zhou Zirong.The old man was skinny, with a goatee trembling with his facial expressions.The man had raised eyebrows and looked aggressive.

As soon as Zhou Zirong boarded the boat, he was led to visit Mr. Li alone in the boat building. Li Chongwen had some friendship with his father in the early years.Whenever Zhou Haiping mentions this person, he feels that he is upright and resourceful, and he is a rare loyal person.Hearing that he likes to eat a kind of black crucian carp in Wuyou River, Zhou Zirong ordered people to prepare dozens of black crucian carp to raise on the boat, planning to make a meal every two days for the old man to satisfy his appetite.

The brightest room in the ship building was also given to Li Chongwen. Zhou Zirong knocked lightly on the door, and only after getting the old man's approval did he push the door lightly and enter.

"Junior Zhou Xi, I have met Master Li." Zhou Zirong bowed respectfully and cupped his hands with his long knife pinned to his waist.

"Zi Rong, why are you so polite, please sit down quickly." Li Chongwen spoke kindly, waved his sleeves to invite Zhou Xi to come in, and took him to a seat, "I have heard for a long time that Mr. Zhou is a talented young man with both civil and military skills. Brother Haiping and I were separated in different places before, and Zi Rong, you rarely showed up. I saw you as a young man before. I only saw Mr. Zhou's demeanor at the Wutan Festival a few days ago. You are really a good-looking talent. Brother Haiping is really lucky. .”

"Your Excellency, it's absurd." Zhou Zirong smiled modestly, and responded with lowered eyebrows.

"Where is there, Zirong, you are a veritable dragon and phoenix among people." Li Chongwen laughed heartily, and the two thick black hero eyebrows were raised high, which really explained what it means to be elated, and he was very enthusiastic when he said it He filled Zhou Zirong with a cup of hot tea, "The wind is chilly, drink some hot tea to warm up your body. You have a heavy responsibility on your shoulders now, so you can't ruin your body. This is what I brought from the capital. Private collection, high-quality products, taste it quickly."

Zhou Zirong thanked Li Chongwen for his tea, took a sip, nodded and praised, "It's really good tea."

Li Chongwen smiled even more when he heard it, and then changed the subject: "Zi Rong, you can still handle it these days. This Donghai has a lot of burdens, and you have suffered."

"Master Li, what are you talking about?" Zhou Zirong smiled calmly, "The reward of eating the emperor, and the matter of being loyal to the emperor, naturally, it is a matter of devotion. No matter how tired or hard, Zirong is also happy."

"My lord is really talented." Li Chongwen looked at him, his expression moved slightly, and he said with a deep smile.

"My lord is serious."

Li Chongwen smiled to himself again, took a sip of tea, let go of the eagerness just now, but still had a kind face, and said softly to him: "You have a long way to go in the East China Sea. The sour and rotten people can't help much, but everyone has a heart for the world and the people's livelihood, and they can communicate a lot on weekdays. But you don't have to come in person, think of people or people It is to write a letter to greet me, an old man, people always feel lonely when they are old, and you are also a young man that I rarely get to know."

"That's natural." Zhou Zirong replied with a smile on his face, "The younger generation is new here, and the adults still need to beat and take care of them a lot."

The two looked at each other with a tacit smile, each respected each other with a cup of tea contentedly, and after a few casual greetings, Zhou Zirong bid farewell.That night, Zhou Zirong asked the chef accompanying the army to cook black crucian carp according to the taste of Li Chongwen's hometown, and brought in the best wine. After three rounds, the wine was still very familiar.