Zan Wanshou stood on the bow of the boat, looking at the blood-red sunset in the distance. At this moment, his mood was as hazy as the scenery under the setting sun. More than a month ago, he left Lin'an and went up the river. The further away from the bustling Lin'an, the more shabby the villages seen along the way become. After passing Ezhou, I occasionally stopped at the shore to replenish water and vegetables, but I saw that the pier was full of refugees begging, and many of them were disabled due to sword wounds. At first, he ordered people to give him food and water, but when he saw more and more refugees along the way, even if the small amount of money he brought was used together, it was not enough to feed the refugees he saw, so he simply hardened his heart and had to let it go. Fortunately, this was the month of May when the vegetation was abundant. There were many wild vegetables and grass roots to satisfy hunger, but not too many people would starve to death.
Five days ago he left Chongqing Prefecture and sailed to Jiading to take up his post. It is an official custom to visit one's superiors before taking office, and he is naturally not exempt from this custom. It's just that the visit process made him feel aggrieved and even humiliated. Yu Xinggao sat in the main hall of the government office, with a serious and cold attitude. Seeing that Zan Wanshou was young, he was even more contemptuous. He talked about things in a lecturing tone, regardless of the fact that the person he was lecturing was the Jiading prefect appointed by the imperial court. Zan Wanshou was also considered a young and talented man. He won the imperial examination at a young age and became the prefect of Jiading when he was just nineteen years old. Although most of the credit for this was due to the emperor's appreciation and the help of nobles in the court, his talent was also evident.
Zan Wanshou, who was very angry, had just returned to the guest house when a clerk from the Sichuan Zhizhi Department slipped into his room. This clerk was a distant relative of his uncle. Seeing his ugly face, he knew that he was angry at Yu Xing. The clerk persuaded him with a smile on his face: "Master Zan, don't be angry. Master Liu Zheng of Luzhou suffered even more embarrassment in the past few days. If you want to please Master Yu, you must pay more filial piety and money." After hearing this, Zan Wanshou said: "Before the visit, I also ordered someone to send jade paintings and calligraphy worth hundreds of taels of silver." "How can a few hundred taels of silver be enough to impress Master Yu? Master Zan will have to spend more money." The clerk said with a smile again.
Although Zan Wanshou had heard that Yu Xing and his son were extremely greedy for money when he was in Lin'an, he did not expect them to be so greedy. You know, twenty taels of silver can feed and clothe a Lin'an family, and a few hundred taels of silver is what dozens of families need for food and clothing for a year. Thinking that although their salary is high, it is still not enough to manage all parties. How can low-level bureaucrats survive if they do not plunder people's wealth and support? Thinking that this bad habit in officialdom must have become commonplace, most of the heroic passion in my heart could not help but dissipate. I even doubted whether I could gain a foothold in Sichuan officialdom if I was not corrupt. If you strictly control your subordinates, will they alienate you and disobey your orders?
Angry and angry, Zan Wanshou still ordered someone to exchange some of his ancestral jewelry and jades for silver, and secretly sent them to Yu Xing at night. Sure enough, when he visited again the next day, Yu Xing's attitude was much kinder, and his expression changed from yesterday's cloudy look to today's look of sunshine after the rain. Not only did he hold his hand to reminisce about old times, but he also kept praising him for being young and promising. He would definitely join the cabinet and become the prime minister in the future, and he was much better than Ouyang Xuan. When Ouyang Xuan was mentioned, Yu Xing's face turned cloudy again. He warned Zan Wanshou not to get close to Ouyang Xuan, but to be more careful. What Ouyang Xuan did in the Pili Army was definitely not the way of a sage, it was really a bastard. It was okay if Yu Xing didn't say it. This statement aroused Zan Wanshou's curiosity even more. He had heard about the Pili Army and Ouyang Xuan in Lin'an, but there were different opinions.
The sunset slowly sank toward the horizon, and a white mist quietly floated over the river. "Sir, I have ordered the boatman to find a river branch ahead to dock. We will set off early tomorrow and arrive at Jiading at noon." The speaker was a young general named Hou Xing, who was going to Jiading with Zan Wanshou to take up his post. . According to the Song Dynasty system, the chief official could recommend subordinate officials and staff. Considering that the western Sichuan where he served was a place with frequent wars, Zan Wanshou recommended Hou Xing, who was highly skilled in martial arts and well versed in military literature, as a general to assist in handling Jiading's military affairs. "It is quite inconvenient to sail at night, but your arrangement is very appropriate." Zan Wanshou had no objection to Hou Xing's arrangement.
Seeing that it was getting late, Zan Wanshou was about to turn around and go back to the cabin, but he heard a sailor on the accompanying ship shout loudly, "Who is this coming? Can't you see that this is an official ship? Get out of the way quickly." He turned around and looked around, only to see more than ten ships appearing upstream at some point. Except for the big ship at the head, the rest were all small boats. These boats only occupied the center of the river and moved down the river very quickly. They ignored the shouting, and instead of giving way, they accelerated towards the official ship, which made Zan Wanshou and Hou Xing a little annoyed. According to the Song Dynasty system, civilian ships should give way to official ships. Not only did the ships not take the initiative to avoid it, but they also did not follow the rules for sailing on the water and walked half way apart. Instead, they ran into each other. For such rude civilian ships, Zan Wanshou can punish the ship's boss and even order them to be sunk directly.
Hou Xing saw the incoming ship rushing faster and faster. In order to avoid the ship colliding, he ordered the helmsman to get out of the way and ordered the soldiers on the ship to prepare for battle. He had vaguely noticed something was wrong with the incoming ship. Among these ships, except for the big ship at the head, which was blocked by wooden planks and could not be seen clearly, one could see that the small ships following behind were filled with shadowy people, about a hundred people, all of whom seemed to be carrying long and short weapons. The fleet that saw an official ship at night and refused to give way was by no means an ordinary civilian ship, or even a water bandit. There was only one possibility - the enemy. If the other party is also an official ship, they will slow down and report to each other's officials, waiting for the ship with the higher official rank to go first. We would even stop on the shore together and have a drink and talk.
The sky was dim, and just when the two fleets were about to meet, Hou Xing was surprised to find that the leading ship had torn off the wooden planks of the cabin at some point, and several large iron pipes on the ship's side were burning with flickering fires. He suddenly remembered that there was a very powerful weapon called artillery in western Sichuan, which was mostly installed on city fortresses or ships. It was with this weapon that the Perak Army was able to repeatedly defeat the Mongolian army. Could it be that the ships coming were from the Perak Army? This thought flashed through his mind, and in desperation, he loudly ordered the ship to speed up. The sailors on the boat got his order and began to paddle rapidly. Different from ordinary civilian ships, official ships are often equipped with oarsmen's positions and supporting equipment in order to keep up with the speed. Zan Wanshou's journey was all upstream, so he was also equipped with a paddler.
The ship suddenly accelerated under Hou Xing's order, and flew out in a flash. Soon enough, Zan Wanshou's boat had just passed the opponent's ship when a series of huge explosions exploded one after another. The shining white light illuminated the wide river. It turned out that the opponent was a gunboat. Under the huge impact, the gunboat was pushed sideways and almost rolled over. It swayed for a long time before it stopped rising, and was immediately enveloped in a huge cloud of white gunpowder smoke. Hou Xing came to his senses after the explosion. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked back. The cold sweat was dripping down his back again. An official ship accompanying him had been riddled with holes. The side of the ship facing the enemy's gunboat fire was covered with dead and wounded soldiers. Many parts of the ship's hull were already on fire and were crackling. Burning.
