Before Hou Zhongxin could react, Yu Xing came up and took the roast chicken away.
He pulled off the chicken butt and one thigh: "Master, here it is!"
The fat man leaned out from the side of the boat and held half of the chicken in his long thick arms.
"Master, do you want a drink?" Yu Xing asked again.
"And wine?"
The fat man's eyes lit up like bells, and he turned to several people on the shore. He sat down on the side of the ship with a straight posture, stretched out his other arm, and clasped a wine jar held by his entourage with his hand like a cattail leaf fan.
"You guys drink less and don't make any mistakes!"
The sound of water was rushing, and the boat continued to move forward. The voice of the fat man came from the boat, and the figure disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Many strong men in the rear threw away their ropes happily at this time and came together to share drinks and dry food.
Hou Zhongxin glared hard at the attendant responsible for holding the wine jar.
The attendant's face was full of bitterness. He had reacted just now and tried to hug the wine jar. But the fat man's hands were very strong, and the wine jar was still carried away by him lightly.
Because there are so many people in Lin'an and so many drinkers, the major restaurants brew a wide variety of famous wines. Even every department and residence has its own brewing workshop, and wines sent from other states are also sold locally. These two large jars of wine were gifted by Ding Zan. It is said that they were produced by the wine shop under the Dianqian Division, named Fengquan. One jar contains three liters of wine, which weighs about ten kilograms and is worth a lot of money.
I originally thought that two jars of wine would be enough for two hundred strong men to drink one cup each, but unexpectedly a strange man came out and robbed half of the wine and meat in one fell swoop? Don't those strong men start making trouble?
How about asking Academician Ding for another jar?
Just as he was thinking this, the young men gathered around him noisily. As expected, someone frowned and asked, "Hey, didn't you see two jars of wine just now? How can this be enough?"
Hou Zhongxin was about to explain when Yu Xing shouted: "I gave the master a jar! The master asked us to drink less!"
The frowned brow of the person who spoke before immediately calmed down, and he nodded together with the other men, like a chicken pecking at rice: "Yes, yes, I should give the master a jar. What the master said makes sense. I have something to do, so I should be less careful." Drink some."
Everyone thanked Hou Zhongxin and divided into small teams. They took the rewards from Hou Zhongxin's hand. In a moment, they all divided the food and wine.
Hou Zhongxin called Yu Xing and Yu Man'er over: "You two, who is that master? Why is he on our ship?"
Yu Xing was confused: "Isn't this our gun-stick instructor?"
Yu Maner said confidently: "This is the great monk of the temple in our village!"
The two of them finished speaking at the same time and looked at each other.
Yu Xing explained: "He was originally a great monk in the temple, and later became a spear and stick instructor."
Yu Maanger also said: "He was a spear and stick instructor in his early years, and later became a monk in the village temple."
The two looked at each other again, and then quickly said to Hou Zhongxin: "In short, he is a teacher and a great monk. Well, sir, have you forgotten? He boarded the ship at Chengshan Port in Ninghai Prefecture, you know it!"
"I see."
Hou Zhongxin agreed, but he always felt that something was wrong.
Something's wrong! Something's wrong!
This fat man was indeed on board the ship at Chengshan Port in Ninghai Prefecture, but didn't Yu Man'er and Yu Xing get on the ship at Wandu Village in Haizhou Prefecture? The two places are hundreds of miles apart, so how can they be related? Judging from the state of the strong men, they all seem to admire this giant man!
There must be a ghost!
Hou Zhongxin was about to detain the two men for detailed interrogation. In front of the road along the river, a knight holding a pine torch rolled back like a fiery dragon.
It turned out that Hou Zhongxin invited the strong men to share the food, and several heavily loaded ships stopped. Wanyan Phosphorus led the cavalry ahead to clear the way, but suddenly found that most of the ships behind him were missing, so he quickly sent people back to urge them.
"Hurry! Don't stop!" These Yi army knights were whipping their whips and shouting to urge the boat.
Among the strong men, many of them had practiced martial arts, and they were obviously good at it, but they were all good-tempered. No one argued with the cavalry, and they immediately dispersed and went to stretch again.
However, the Yi army cavalry was slippery with their whips and had a conflict with the 60 soldiers of the Song Dynasty listed in the mission. Hou Zhongxin rushed to deal with it. He worked all night and was so tired that he felt dizzy.
For the next few days, Hou Zhongxin didn't stop.
Under the urging of the Jurchens, the fleet traveled day and night, entered the lock from Tongzhou, and rushed to the capital. To the east of Tongzhou, there were often terrifying sounds of fighting, and there were thousands of refugees walking like rotten trees in the wilderness. , the tragedy is shocking.
When the fleet arrived in Tongzhou, a group of pick-up companions sent by Daikin arrived. According to the custom of previous years, a chamberlain brought the emperor's edict and ordered a certain minister from the Song Dynasty to come from a distance to celebrate his birthday with a commemorative coin. He showed off his good work and so on. In addition, all the supplies given to the envoys for the three sections of people were also distributed, which made the envoys very happy.
Only one of the Jurchen escorts suggested that the Song delegation had two hundred more men than in previous years, and there was no list of names, which was very rude.
Hou Zhongxin didn't say anything yet. Ding Yan immediately said that all the Caodinggang households along the Lushui River in your country have been dispersed, and we are helpless; as for the strong winds and high waves on the sea, it is even more troublesome.
If you can ensure the safety of the road, let alone Lushui, we will immediately send off the people when we return and take the old road agreed upon by the two countries, first to Zhending and then to Bianliang, but I don't know if the Dajin court is sure.
The pick-up and drop-off companion was disappointed and asked no more questions. The waterway from Tongzhou to Zhongdu was still inseparable from the young men recruited by Hou Zhongxin, and the young men still worked hard.
Under such a situation, Hou Zhongxin could only persuade himself not to cause trouble.
Since ancient times, the water has been extremely clear without fish. The Great Jin Kingdom is in such chaos that there are people running away everywhere. These strong men themselves admitted that they were all serving in Dai Jin's army, and maybe they were all deserters.
If they were thieves and bandits who robbed homes and homes, how could they have worked so hard all the way to follow the mission here? All you want is a little money! What else could there be? When you employ people, there is no need to be picky!
In late January, the Song delegation finally entered Zhongdu.
Although he is always on alert for war, he has already fought several fierce battles. But there are still many people coming in and out of the city gate. Under this situation, food, horse feed and firewood were all urgently needed in the city, and the imperial court always encouraged people to go out, either to gather some wild wheat, dig some wild potatoes, wild fruits, or to cut down some firewood.
The ragged people lined up in a long line, supervised by soldiers, who ordered them to gather outside the city and hand over 30% of what they earned as city gate tax.
Occasionally, some people were really reluctant to part with the fruits of a hard day's work, crying and shouting and unwilling to hand over what they had gained, so the soldiers rushed over and used riding whips and scabbards to achieve satisfactory results.
And people who entered the city were easily robbed in the square inside Xuanyao Gate.
Most of the people gathered in that area were refugees who had recently fled from outside the city. They were too frightened to leave the city to look for food. The government offices in Chengli seldom distributed food, so the desperate refugees were always under the threat of starving to death. , often beating and robbing each other with the people in the city.
Du Shisheng was in a restaurant and looked around casually.
In just two glances, there was already four or five commotions in the square.
At this time, the envoys of the Song Dynasty changed their carriages outside the city. The convoy and its entourage were struggling to move forward in the chaotic crowd like headless flies. No matter how the Yi Army cavalry shouted, they had to take one step back after taking two steps forward. Some refugees were too bold and even tried to climb onto the carriage to look through the goods in the carriage to find something to eat. The cavalry showed no courtesy to them, immediately dragged them to the ground and trampled them to death.
The restaurant where Du Shisheng works is located in the Tongmafang in the east of the city. Its name comes from the horse "Zhebai" owned by Emperor Murong Gui of the Yan Kingdom. There are many rich and wealthy businessmen in Tongmafang, so they will naturally not be disturbed.
So Du Shisheng only glanced at it twice. When the motorcade passed under the restaurant and meandered towards the Huitong Pavilion area, he stopped looking and poured a large glass of wine for himself and drank it.
On a cold day, the mellow aroma of the wine and the burning sensation after taking the drink are enough to dispel the cold inside the body, making people feel extremely happy both mentally and physically.
He raised his glass and said half-jokingly to the waiters at the next table: "The Changchun Festival congratulatory envoys from the Song Dynasty are here. Entering Zhongdu at this time is a hard job, right? Haha, you guys have been working all day Following me here is also hard work!"
Du Shisheng's life in Zhongdu has always been very comfortable. But after the emperor heard that Ding Haijun intended to send troops to Beijing, he immediately sent out a few subordinates. On the one hand, he asked them to follow Du Shisheng closely and not allow him to make any moves. On the other hand, he specifically warned him not to hurt the old scholar's life and to ensure his safety.
After hearing what Du Shisheng said, several Xiaodi could only smile bitterly.
new
