weaving

Chapter 562 Ask Yang to meet King Xiang first
Today is December 13th, the [-]th year of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty. It has been three days since Yang Sichang came to Shashi in Jiangling County, Jingzhou Prefecture, Huguang Province.

Shashi has a long history and was known as Jiangjin, Xiashou and Jinxiang in ancient times.

As early as more than 3000 years ago, Shashi was the outer port of Yingdu of Chu State. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Shashi became one of the twelve largest commercial cities in the country, and the "century-old commercial port" prospered from this.

For thousands of years, Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese historical and cultural figure, Yin Sun Shuao, the magistrate of the Chu State, Guan Yu, a loyal, benevolent and brave martial artist, Du Fu, a poetic saint in Tang Dynasty, and Zhang Juzheng, a famous minister of the Ming Dynasty, have all left traces of their lives in Shashi.

Although the current Shashi is only a town under the jurisdiction of Jingzhou Prefecture, its commercial prosperity is far greater than that of Jingzhou Prefecture.

Someone once wrote: "There are 99 alleys, and each row occupies one alley; the boats and cars converge, and the prosperous Jiayu is even worse than today's Beijing Normal University and Gusu."

It is precisely because Shashi is so rich and prosperous that there is no need to worry about the supply of supplies, so Yang Sichang temporarily set up his supervisor's Xingyuan in the Xu Garden of Shashi, also known as the Xu Family Garden.

At this moment, Yang Sichang has confirmed the news that Xiangyang fell and King Xiang was killed, but the news of Luoyang's fall and King Fu's killing is still limited to folk rumors, and he also sent someone to confirm.

When he went to Sichuan to supervise and suppress Xiancao's army, he failed, and the two Xiancao's escaped from Sichuan and returned to Huguang, which had already caused Yang Sichang a great mental setback.

After receiving the report that Xiangyang fell and King Xiang was in trouble, he suddenly felt that the military of "suppressing bandits" and his own future were completely in despair.

At the beginning, when he went to Sichuan to supervise and suppress the two thieves Cao Xian, he often stood at the bow of the ship when he was dealing with military affairs, pointing out the country with his staff and Qing guests, commenting on Xingsheng, and admiring the scenery.

But now, his appearance has almost completely changed, especially after receiving the news from Xiangyang, he can hardly hold himself back, his face is haggard, his face is sallow, and he has no previous look.

His 54th birthday is two months away, but he doesn't know where he will be.

He hadn't eaten for two whole days, and he was worried about the overall situation of suppressing the thieves. He was deeply afraid that the situation would be ruined. Under the attacks of the courtiers, even if he remained as holy as before, he was afraid that it would be difficult to save himself.

Today, all the generals and officials came to Xingyuan for military meetings, but Yang Sichang felt extremely bored, and often looked to the north with a dazed expression.

But he understood the mood of the generals better at this time. When he was about to leave the military assembly hall, he still held his spirits and said in a heavy voice: "Since I took office, I have worked hard and prepared for it. I wanted to make meritorious service. The army serves the imperial court.

Unexpectedly, the suppression campaign suffered repeated setbacks, resulting in the fall of Xiangyang and the murder of King Xiang, which was unexpected.

The supervisor has been in charge for two years. Although he has managed poorly, he has made little achievements. How can he let it go to waste!

The emperor has treated me with great kindness, we should work together to make another move, to report the great kindness of the emperor, and to protect the common people.

You must not be discouraged and desperate, and miss the opportunity to make up for it. My supervisor is willing to encourage you! "

…………

In fact, Yang Sichang didn't believe what he said just now, he just kept a glimmer of hope in his heart, praying for a miracle to reverse the situation.

Occasionally, the "chirp" of a bird could be heard outside the window, but Yang Sichang's mind was full of thoughts and he didn't pay attention to it.

He was thinking about the arrogance of Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong, the two generals who refused to listen to orders, but he was powerless to do anything about it; in a second, he thought that after the news was received by the court, there would be an uproar and there would be an uproar. Playing that he squandered millions of dollars, he defeated the suppression and fell to the feudal lord.

Yang Sichang knew very well that although he had never participated in forming a party in the past few decades, he had never been able to get out of the family dispute between the government and the opposition, just like his father Yang He, who suffered a lot in this family dispute. Unfortunately, he is still being scolded after his death, and he himself lives in the storm of family struggle every day.

"Those people..."

He said in his heart: "If you seize this opportunity, you will never let me go over the mountain!"

At this time, Yang Sichang thought of the emperor's "sacred family" to him again, but after thinking about it, he always felt unsure, so he sighed unconsciously, and blurted out: "The holy family is not static, let alone Today's disposition!"

He returned to the reclining chair and couldn't help thinking that when the boat passed Jingzhou a few days ago, he suddenly felt cold and hot, so he never went ashore to meet His Royal Highness Hui Wang.

This morning, he sent his family member Yang Zhong to take his greeting card and ride to Jingzhou to meet Liu Jifang, the head of King Hui's mansion.

Now he still plans to check Huiwang Zhu Changrun's tone in person. First, he wants to ask Huiwang to rest assured that Jingzhou will be safe;

Thinking of this, he suddenly stood up and called out: "Come on!"

A servant came in quickly and cautiously, and stood in front of the bed with his arms down. Yang Sichang asked him if Yang Zhong had returned from Jingzhou. The servant told him that he had already returned. He did not dare to startle him because he was resting, and he was waiting in the wing room. .

He immediately asked his servant to call Yang Zhong to the bed, and asked, "Have you gone to see Liu Chengfeng?"

Yang Zhong replied respectfully: "I met Liu Chengfeng in Jingzhou, and I told him that the master wants to go to see His Royal Highness Hui Wang."

Yang Sichang raised his head and asked with concern: "Have you agreed on the time for the court meeting?"

But Yang Zhong persuaded him: "Liu Chengfeng immediately went into the mansion to give a performance to His Royal Highness King Hui. He has been there for a long time, but...please don't be angry, Lord Hui said...he said...please don't be angry, Lord , If you don’t go to court, don’t go.”

Yang Sichang felt a chill in his heart, but he still asked persistently: "Don't be so wordy! What is King Hui's order? Tell me quickly."

Yang Zhong said timidly: "Liu Chengfeng passed down...His Royal Highness King Hui's oral order...'Mr. Yang would like to see the widow, so please ask Yang to go see King Xiang first.'"

Hearing this, Yang Sichang shuddered all over, and suddenly felt that his eyes went dark, and he sat slumped on the reclining chair, but he had already developed a special ability after being with the king for a long time.

In an instant, his expression returned to his superficial composure, he did not show too much panic in front of the servants, and lost his normalcy.

He said slowly and softly, "Bring the washing water!"

Outside the house, servants had already prepared various things for him, in case he needed them at any time. After a while, some servants came in after hearing the sound, and waited for him to wash his face.

Yang Sichang suddenly felt chills all over his body, and he added a purple squirrel robe under the round-collar official casual clothes, and then braced himself, walked out of the flower hall, and stood still under the eaves.

The servants outside saw him and stood aside with their hands down, silent, as usual, but Yang Sichang could also see the heavy sadness from their faces.

A cloud drifted into the distance in the sky and then disappeared. He suddenly recalled a year and a half ago when he was leaving Beijing, the emperor gave a banquet and all the officials had a farewell party outside Guangning Gate, and he also thought of his ambition and prestige when he first arrived in Xiangyang. Situation, I can't help but sigh in my heart: "Life is like a dream!"

With his head lowered, he retreated back into the flower hall, trying to scramble to review some urgent military documents, but suddenly he heard someone's voice outside the flower hall.

Yang Sichang asked softly: "Who is speaking in the courtyard?"

(End of this chapter)