In the main hall behind him, Yuan Huaimin turned his head and watched as a certain "salted fish killer" officer walked away and disappeared.

He withdrew his gaze and turned to look south, dazed for a while.

At a certain moment, this descendant of the Northern Wei royal family, whose ancestors were rich, rubbed his face, then smiled and spoke in an open-minded tone:

"Yuan Jia hastily sealed the wolf in Xu, and won the hasty visit to the north... Good words, good words."

He tasted the product with a smile on his face, but soon his face became visibly depressed again, and he sat alone and murmured:

“I once heard from my grandfather that during the Yuan-Jia Northern Expedition two hundred years ago, even though there were ‘poor scholars’ in the Southern and Song dynasties, they failed to win and ended up rushing north in a hurry.

"Since ancient times, it seems that it has been difficult to win from south to north...

"Hey, why is this, strange, strange."

…

The next few days.

In addition to listening to Junior Sister and Liu Lang's daily reports on Wang Junzhi's social interactions,

Ouyang Rong devoted his energy to welcoming the garrison soldiers returning from the north soon.

On this day, Jiangzhou Hall received a message from the envoy Hu Zhong who went south to pardon the garrison soldiers.

This letter is very solemn.

The letter first contained a piece of good news, that is, the envoy Khufu had arrived at a place called Tanfu and met with the 1,500 garrison soldiers returning from the north.

On that day, the emperor's edict of pardon was read out.

The garrison soldiers who returned to the north were comforted by his success.

It was a near miss.

Envoy Hu Zhong promised the garrison soldiers in public that he would send them back to Hongzhou and Jiangzhou, and that he would order officials along the way not to stop them.

Allow them to return north in peace.

Ambassador Hu even said that he could help them prepare a boat and take the fastest waterway.

The 1,500 garrison soldiers who returned from the north did not hesitate much. They immediately put down their weapons and supported the emperor's personal envoy who was like a life-saving straw.

Now, this letter from Khufu,

This is to inform Jiangzhou Hall and Hongzhou Governor's Office to make preparations in advance to welcome the garrison troops returning from the north.

It can be regarded as an announcement of good news and ventilation.

Ouyang Rong finished reading the letter and let out a sigh of relief.

The situation in Jiangnan Province that had been tense before has finally eased a lot.

According to what the letter said, Khufu's trip went relatively smoothly, and he was returning north with the 1,500 garrison soldiers who had laid down their weapons.

It seemed that Ouyang Rong's preparations in the past few days were correct. The only thing left to do now was to prevent Wang Lengran and others from framing him on the day when the garrison entered the city.

"Wait a minute, Jiangzhou is fine, but how will Hongzhou deal with it?"

Ouyang Rong frowned and thought for a while:

"But it seems that Zhu Lingxu is not from the Wei family, but from Prince Teng's palace. There is no need to work so hard for the Wei family's dignity.

"And Ambassador Hu is not stupid. He must have thought of this, so he comforted the soldiers and chose to return with the team. The first stop was Hongzhou City. This should be to prevent changes..."

Ouyang Rong sat alone, thought carefully for a while, and continued to check and fill in the gaps:

"I'm going to talk to Uncle Li tomorrow night. The next time I submit a letter to plead for mercy, I'll also include the 1,200 garrison soldiers from Zhechong Mansion in Hongzhou who returned from the north. See if we can be 'punished' to come to Jiangzhou to build statues and add layers to them."

Insurance.

"Besides, Jiangzhou is not far from Hongzhou, and the statues are paid for, so there shouldn't be much resentment."

He nodded slightly.

That night, when he returned to Yinbingzhai, Ouyang Rong and Ye Weilai lay down to rest early.

In the middle of the night, he was sleeping soundly. In the bed, he suddenly opened his eyes and stood up straight.

The drowsiness was completely driven away by the clear and crisp sound of wooden fish that kept coming to my ears.

"Has your merit increased?"

Only stunned for a moment, Ouyang Rong first pressed down the little white-haired head under the quilt that was about to raise his head in confusion. Then he quickly closed his eyes and lay down to sleep again.

Ouyang Rong's mind sank into the Tower of Merit and flew directly to Xiaomuyu, who was still forced to open business in the middle of the night.

[Merits: seven thousand one hundred and sixty-eight]

In the line of blue-gold fonts above the little wooden fish, the numbers suddenly became different, and they were still sporadic.

Ouyang Rong looked happy and confused.

Why did my merits suddenly increase by more than 500 in the middle of the night? Before, my merits were still over 6,600.

Could it be that the merit ritual of the Heavenly Buddha's family is down, stuck in baggage, and given away in vain?

Well, probably not.

"The sudden surge in merit, is it because the folks in Longcheng built a statue for me again, or is it some other measure to help others and repay the merit?

"Is it the key to Qingmei Luyuan that was given to Du Shuqing last time? But judging from the letter from Magistrate Diao, didn't he move in a long time ago and delayed giving it until now?

"Speaking of which, when Du Shuqing first moved into Meiluyuan, Xiao Muyu didn't seem to have any obvious merit. It seems that he was not grateful for this move..."

He tried to think back, trying to find the source of the sudden increase in merit.

"Forget it, I have done so many good things that I can't even think of one."

Ouyang Rong shook his head, reluctantly giving up, and said to himself, half worried and half happy:

"But increasing merit should be a good thing..."

Ouyang Rong thought no more, exited the merit tower and continued to sleep.

Soon it was dawn, and he was full of energy and went to go on duty.

Although I missed the seven thousand red blessings of merit that may be related to it,

But Ouyang Rong was still running around, busy protecting the garrison troops returning from the north.

Some things have nothing to do with returns.

afternoon.

The third floor of Yunshui Pavilion, the old place.

Ouyang Rong made an appointment with Qin Heng again.

As soon as the two met, he went straight to the point and informed Qin Heng of his plan to discuss with Prince Xunyang's Mansion.

Qin Heng's breathing became thicker, he took a deep breath, his expression calmed down, and he clasped his fists heavily:

"Thank you, Ouyang Changshi, for your righteousness, and thank you, Your Majesty, for being so kind."

His expression was resolute, and he seemed to be bad at expressing his true feelings.

However, listening to the crisp sound of wooden fish ringing in his ears, Ouyang Rong had a rough understanding of Captain Guo Yi, who was not good at expressing himself, and he felt grateful from the bottom of his heart.

He smiled and said a few words of relief.

Afterwards, the two of them discussed the cooperation matters of leaving the city soon to welcome the garrison troops returning from the north.

Qin Heng asked casually: "Chang Shi said that on that day, you gave the sword given to you by the last general to Ambassador Hu?"

Ouyang Rong: "Yes, the comfort of the soldiers went smoothly this time. Maybe it was also the reason why Captain Su responded..."

Halfway through his words, he suddenly paused.

Ouyang Rong closed his mouth, lowered his head and took a sip of tea. Ouyang Rong glanced at Qin Heng with a frown.

"What's wrong with Ouyang Changshi? Why are his hands shaking?"

"fine."

Ouyang Rong ignored the trembling bells in his ears, concealed his emotions, and put down the teacup again:

"A little sleepy."

"Then Ouyang Changshi should rest early."

"It's no big deal."

Ouyang Rong and Qin Heng continued to talk and laugh freely.

After lighting a stick of incense, the discussion was over. He stood up and said goodbye to Qin Heng.

On a carriage that slowly drove back to Jiangzhou's lobby, Ouyang Rong sat with his eyes closed as soon as he got on the carriage, and immediately flew into the Tower of Merit.

In the Tower of Merit, he looked up at the ancient bronze bell above that was trembling again and flowing with "water mist", and his face couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

The purple mist pouring out of the Fortune Bell is mixed with blood-red threads, which looks a bit familiar...

That red blessing worth seven thousand merits has returned.
To be continued...