"Kuang Yan, let's go." The scholar called to the boy and got on a "powerful" mule cart.
"Here we come, sir."
After getting on the bus, the scholar asked the boy to prepare pen and ink. At this time, his literary thoughts were flooding in his heart, and he came up with a good poem.
"Sir, the car is bumpy, how can I write well? I'm afraid the ink will spill all over the floor." The boy who was called Kuang Yan muttered.
The scholar glanced at him sideways and said, "Would your young master care about this?"
Kuang Yan had no choice but to take out the Four Treasures of the Study on the bumpy donkey cart and prepare them properly. The scholar wrote:
Guixing
Last year, Shu Jian returned to Xianyang and climbed up to Luyue Mountain to look at his hometown.
Qincheng did not see Zhao Bi being sold, but I heard that Feng Prison had abandoned its generals.
Hongdu's creeping grass pulls the clothes belt, and Dayu's plum blossoms smile and dress up for guests.
Today, there are strange characters in Jingxuan, and the dusty area is full of reading beds.
Signed: Kuang Lu Bingzi
During the Longxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Kuang family fled from Zhuji Lane in Nanxiong and settled in Dazhen Township, Dalibao, Nanhai County. This experience for Master and Servant Kuang Lu can be regarded as re-taking the "Long March" of their ancestors. Along the way, I thought about the past of my ancestors migrating south, and I couldn't help but feel emotional.
Speaking of which, when a wanderer returns home, there is always a lot of expectation and joy. However, Kuang Lu had no such mood.
Once you enter Nanxiong, you are an "enemy country".
Guangdong, where he lived for a long time, is now the land of the "Great Song Dynasty". Kuang Lu only felt ridiculous and sad. I don’t know what happened to my beloved city of Guangzhou and my family and friends...
Nanxiong was the station of Lingnan Road Guards in the Ming Dynasty and an important distribution center for goods from Guangdong and Jiangxi. Qiwei and Dachang had points along the Beijiang Commercial Road. In the Ming Dynasty, there was no direct passenger ship from Nanxiong to Dali. The master and servant Kuang Lu sometimes took a boat and sometimes a car, and the journey was bumpy. Fortunately, Qiwei Travel Agency handled the entire trip. Whether we were traveling by car or boat, staying overnight or traveling, everyone made the arrangements, so the journey went smoothly. It's just that Australian patrols and patrol boats are often seen patrolling along the way, and there are often checkpoint towers at key points in the pass. There are frequent inspections and inspections, and the atmosphere seems a bit tense.
On this day they arrived at Dali Fort. This place is located in the alluvial plain of the Pearl River Delta, with dense water networks and crisscrossing rivers. The water transportation is very convenient. You can return home in a few days just by following the ships passing between the various strongholds on the Beijiang Commercial Road.
He originally thought that after the Kun bandits rebelled, ruins would be everywhere and the people would be in dire straits, but what he saw along the way surprised Kuang Lu. Although ruined houses and many traces of fires can be seen in Yanjiangwei City, the villagers going to the market are bustling with people and business travelers are constantly on the road. The prosperity of the past has basically been restored, and many new buildings have been built on the wasteland along the river. Some simple shacks were built, which looked like small villages from a distance.
"Boatman, what's going on with these stilts? Why haven't you seen them before?" Kuang Lu asked the boatman who was rowing the oar.
The boatman pointed to the riverside, "The guest is talking about Danjia Village, right? Your accent doesn't sound like a foreigner. You don't know the grace of the Senate?"
Kuang Lu smiled bitterly and said: "To be honest, I offended the county magistrate a few years ago and fled to the far away world. I heard that Guangdong and Guangxi have changed the world, so I dared to go home to fulfill my filial piety. I really don't know the changes in my hometown."
The boatman couldn't help being awe-struck after hearing this, and said: "There were not many good dog officials in the previous dynasty. Sir, he is not afraid of power, so he must be a good person."
"Ashamed..." Kuang Lu was a little embarrassed. The past events between herself and Magistrate Huang were actually more motivated. Although the man named Huang is not a good person, he is just trying to make him angry.
"The previous dynasty not only had to collect fish lessons from us Dan people, but also collected feathers, fish bladders, fish oil, and Ding Yin was indispensable. We were also required to perform corvee labor. Our taxes were heavier than anyone else, but we were not allowed to study for the imperial examination. If you don’t marry us, we are not allowed to live ashore, and we are not allowed to wear shoes when we go ashore. Big fish in the water eat ants, and dry ants in the water eat fish. The big ones bully the small ones, the small ones bully the short ones. If you have nothing to bully, you will bully the young ones..."
The boatman talked about the hardships of life, and somehow his eyes got light again: "The Senate issued an edict as soon as they came, saying that everyone in the Song Dynasty was equal, and all the lowly status of the previous dynasty was reduced. We were also exempted from many We were taxed and allowed to live ashore, study, join the army, and take the imperial examination. It was like a dream! Sir, those stilt houses you saw were built on the wasteland where the chief allowed us to stay. The surrounding wasteland may We will open up land and be exempted from five years of land tax. This year's harvest on the shore is not good, and there is famine everywhere. The Senate has prepared a lot of work to build dams. As long as you go to work, you will have something to eat."
Hearing this, Kuang Lu was surprised. He was quite familiar with the situation of the villagers in the Pearl River: in spring and summer there were plenty of fish to feed them, but they were poor all year round. In order to survive, it was common for wives and daughters to make fun of themselves. As soon as the thieves came, they cut off their low status and treated them like good citizens. In the end, these people were no longer used by the Ming Dynasty.
Kuang Lu asked the boatman: "Have you also done something for the Australians?"
The boatman laughed and said, "Why haven't you done this? To be honest, I said: Three years ago, someone was on my boat and asked me, 'If someone asked you to go ashore and build houses, live like people on land, start a family and start a business, would you support it?' I said, 'I don't know what support means. I only know that if there is such a parent official, I will obey him in everything.' Later, the chiefs went to Wuzhou to recruit boatmen, so I took a dozen brothers to help the chiefs sail and transport food. "
"Oh, why don't you work as an official?"
"The old man is joking. He is sixty years old this year. He can't read a word and can't learn it. We people live on the water all year round, and our bodies are full of aches and pains. Every rainy day, all the joints and bones in our body hurt. Living in this small boat with a bent body and a hunched back, I have no ability to work as an official or errand, let alone an official.
"The boatman's clothes were all patched, his temples were gray under his shrimp hat, and the wrinkles on his face were like scars from the years. As soon as he started talking, everything was revealed. "We Danhu are untouchables who are looked down upon by others. The young man didn’t get married until he was in his fifties. His wife was a widow and a married woman. She remarried me after her husband died. I thought that since she was more than ten years younger than me, I would always be able to rely on her until I grow old, but I didn’t expect that she would die before me! Didn't get to see it today. She is a good woman. She does laundry, cooking, fishing and transporting goods. She is busy doing everything. She has mended all the holes in my clothes. Without her, I would still have to wear leaky clothes. I think she must have owed me a debt in her previous life, and she has to pay it back in this life. She also said so, but why did she leave after only a few years of repayment? When she died, my soul seemed to be lost. I almost fell into the river and drowned several times..."
A gust of cool wind blew by, and the corners of Kuang Lu's eyes were a little moist. To be honest, he has seen too much suffering in the world, and this is nothing. These tears were shed not for this poor household, but for the world. He didn't want the boatman to see him, so he walked out of the boat canopy and his eyes happened to fall on the white couplet with some vague handwriting on the boat canopy, which read crookedly:
Danhus are born, Danhus are born, and Danhus die in the ship for several generations.
The wind goes away, the wind comes, and the wind stays in the tent for a lifetime
Hengpi: Die early, be happy early
The boatman saw that he was fascinated and said: "This was written for me by a scholar a few years ago. I am illiterate, and my friends on the water are also illiterate. The guests who came and went laughed when they read it. I guess it is a good couplet." "
Kuang Lu said: "It's good, it's just a little old. How about I give you a new one."
"Okay, sir, you are such a charming person. Our village is not far ahead. I'll look for a pair of red papers when I go ashore." The boatman said and sailed towards Danjia Village ahead.
"Okay, I just want to buy some dried fish."
"I don't have any money, but there are plenty of these things. I like them, so I can give you some as a filial piety!"
Kuang Yan secretly tugged on Kuang Lu's clothes to show that he was afraid of eating flat noodles. Kuang Lu patted his shoulder and comforted him in a low voice: "It doesn't matter, sir. I am proficient in the six arts, both civil and military, and there is nothing ordinary people can do to me. This place has entered the Fenjiang River, not far from Dali. I heard that the Australians have a team of people. In Dali, there are often Australian patrol boats on this river. It is not a place without royal laws. It is also a good opportunity to see how clear the river and the sea are under the rule of the Australians."
"Master, what couplet do you want to give him?"
"Winter is passing and spring is coming. I am happy to bid farewell to the old year in the southeast and northwest. After all the hardships and joy, I look at the lakes, seas and rivers to celebrate new life. Horizontal comment: great country." Kuang Lu added an accent to the last four words.
"Young master, you hate Commander Xiong for losing this great country, right?"
Kuang Lu was silent. Did Governor Xiong throw it away?
At this time, the bow of the boat hummed a saltwater song:
"There are three piles of mud to make a stove. There is no bottom wind stove for cooking rice in a clay pot.
There is (no) overnight rice left in the rice vat, and there is (no) overnight firewood left in the stove pit!
A married woman in other places has a red skin hole, but a married woman in my land has a rotten chicken coop;
Married girls in other countries sit in sedan chairs, but married girls in our country just cross the boat!
There is a treasure boat above and a boat below. Without your brother, just a boat would be so desolate.
Tengzi's bamboo bags are tied everywhere, and his head is wagging and his tail is swaying like a dragon born in the deep sea.
Master, the whole boat is not (not) leak-proof.
Your sister-in-law sleeps at night and watches the fish swim.
The master is arranging the canopy and not laying the leaves. Your sister-in-law is sleeping and looking at the Milky Way at night. "
The lyrics were sad and sad, and the singer was in high spirits. The boat moved briskly along with the singing. Before it reached the shore, someone on the shore shouted: "Uncle Salmon, Principal Tian and Doctor Hou are here..."
The boatman shouted back: "Okay, I'll be there soon!"
"What kind of fish is salmon?" Kuang Yan asked curiously.
"Where is the nickname? That's what people on the shore have!" said the boatman, "I don't know, my original name is Zeng Carp. When I was helping the leader transport food, the leader said that carp live in ponds and the pattern is too small. Salmon is a deep-sea fish. Like salmon, it can travel thousands of miles to find where it comes from. This is called the salmon dream. If a person has no dreams, what is the difference between him and salted fish? I have never seen a salmon, but Chief So it must be very good, so I later changed its name to Zeng Salmon.”
Kuang Yan sneered at this and thought to himself: "The thief is really vulgar."
(End of chapter)
