The next morning, the boy in a short shirt followed his father out of the city and took a bus. Ye Dangting stayed at home with Lin's mother. This trip was no longer a matter of sneaking out to become a monk in the early morning and returning home in despair in the evening.
Beside the caravan
"When my son grows up, he will go on a long journey," Lin's father patted Lin Manliu's shoulder and said.
"Dad, I will definitely go home as soon as possible. You and mother must take care of your health," the boy in a short shirt sobbed as he looked at his father's old face.
"I just said that you have grown up, but you are about to start crying again. How can you show some manly courage like a girl?" Father Lin said immediately.
Then the boy in short shirt followed the traveling caravan and gradually moved away from Fengcheng.
...
The journey was going smoothly. Before March, we were about to arrive at Jiannan Rongcheng, the caravan's first replenishment location. All the men on the caravan along the way knew that there was a fourteen-year-old or fifteen-year-old kid in the caravan. He was carrying his own package and a length of black cloth. He usually walked with the caravans and never took a car. His family owned a pastry shop in Dongcheng.
When the caravan was resting, he would come over to help light fires, boil water, and make food. At night, he would also chat with the men on guard to relieve fatigue. But it was a bit weird during the day. When walking on the mountain road, he would always stretch out his hands to explore the ground, using this The children of the Lin family said they were exercising, but since they had never traveled far and practiced a lot, they couldn't keep up with the pace of young and strong men like them.
As the light rain in the early morning gradually subsided, the caravan drove out of the mountain forest. The dense forest was no longer surrounding the mountain road. Suddenly, the field of vision broadened, and only the towering city walls could be seen. The mottled traces represented the vicissitudes of this towering high city. There were some flowers that bloomed in spring under the city walls. , the morning dew is either hung on the wall, or dotted on the petals, or embellished on the flowers and grass leaves.
The young man in a short shirt felt very happy when he looked at these little flowers that had just bloomed. This is the outside world. The caravan steward in front not only sighed: "What a dawn to see the red and wet place, the flowers are so heavy in the official city."
The guards of the accompanying caravan echoed. A young man on the top of the city looked at the scene below the city and chuckled slightly with a hint of ridicule. He was about to turn around and leave. Before leaving, he turned his head and glanced at Lin Man, who was looking around at the end of the caravan. Sixth, his right hand unconsciously began to deduce formulas, and it didn’t take long before he gave up and left.
The caravan found a post station near the city gate and prepared to rest. As soon as everyone sat down, several people who looked like officials suddenly arrived.
"Give way, give way, give way and avoid the yamen's affairs." The leader of the officials touched his chubby belly with one hand and pointed at the guests at the post station to scold them. After everyone gave up half of their seats.
He sat down at the table where he had just arrived and had not had time to eat. He almost broke the bench. Then the accompanying officials sat aside and started eating the banquet. The guest who suddenly occupied the seat did not dare to Speaking out, although the southern territory is dominated by Jianghu sects, normal affairs and superficial political affairs still belong to the Yanyang Dynasty.
Everyone in the caravan was about to find seats to sit down again, but unexpectedly there was another move from the officer's side. The greasy and fat officer seemed to be eating something unknown in his mouth and shouted vaguely to the caravan: "It's on the mountain over there. You country bumpkins who are coming down here, do you know how to behave and serve some good wine to the official? Otherwise, this carriage carrying goods will not leave Chengdu."
"Master, please wait a moment. I'm going to go to the store to get some wine for you..." The steward of the caravan stood up quickly and bowed his head to the other side. After that, he was about to go to the waiter's office at the inn.
"That's right. You can safely bring your caravan into the city to purchase goods. I will enforce the law impartially and escort you all to load the goods out of the city..." The official agreed when he saw that the steward knew the ropes.
While talking, I happened to see Lin Manliu in the crowd. Seeing that he was carrying something like a black cloth strip on his back, he pointed at the boy in a short shirt. His outstretched fingers were still stained with grease from the food he had just grabbed and ate, and he said sharply: "Then What is that little kid carrying on his back? Are you country bumpkins still bringing weapons into the city without permission? The manager had better give you an explanation!"
The caravan steward who was still there was obviously so frightened that he couldn't speak. He had no idea how this official could be so greedy. Even after paying for the drinks, he still wanted to extract real money from the caravan. Seeing this, the young man in short shirt unconsciously prepared to grab the hilt of the sword.
Suddenly there were horse hooves on the street, and pedestrians gave way to both sides of the road.
"What do you need to say? In broad daylight, the city officials robbed people of their livelihood, and even used strong words to seize other people's property to gain money. Is this your impartial law enforcement?" A somewhat neutral voice came from the other side of the street. , it was the man who was driving the horse, who got closer and closer until the group of officials were no more than five steps away, then he reined up his horse and whipped his whip at the officials' table.
"General Li Li Li..." The officer quickly stood up and prepared to salute.
Before he could salute, another whip was whipped at the table, and another voice came from the horse: "Even if you bring weapons into the city, won't the soldiers be inspected at the city gate? Inheriting Taizu's law of rising sun, I think the knights in the rivers and lakes work together Defend the enemy until the mountains and rivers of Datong in the world are stable. No matter where you come from, you can enter the city with weapons. Only bows, strings and crossbows need to be guarded by the city gate captain. What do you mean by pretending that I don't know? Why don't you get out of here."
The fat official immediately ran into the city, and his followers also fled in a hurry. When the general on horseback saw that the official was escaping from the city, he winked at his subordinates, dismounted and walked towards the caravan. He clasped his fists at the caravan and said, "Li Yanhe, the guard in the south of Xiarong City, I have caused you inconvenience just now. I am very offended.", the steward It doesn't matter if you respond quickly or not.
Li Yanhe looked at Lin Manliu and said with a smile: "There is nothing wrong with bringing weapons into the city, but little brother, please don't think that our Yanyang Dynasty returned the south to Jianghu just to leave the knights to grudges without asking. If It is not a sword that can defeat everyone, so do not unsheath it at will."
The boy in a short shirt raised his hands to Li Yanhe and thanked him: "Thank you, General Li, for your advice. I understand."
"I guess the caravan documents and seals have not been stamped yet. Little brother, come with me to get your caravan's transit documents, so that the caravan can travel more easily in the future." As Li Yanhe spoke, he looked at the caravan steward, who immediately understood: "Man Liu, hurry up and follow the general to get the documents."
Li Yanhe didn't say anything to the boy in a short shirt along the way and just led the horse forward. Lin Manliu walked behind him, and Li Yanhe looked back at the boy from time to time. After getting the stamped documents.
Looking at the flowers and grass beside the city wall, Li Yanhe looked at the young man in a short shirt and said: "Now is not the best season. You have to wait until after August. It will be the most beautiful. Forty miles of city flowers, surrounded by thousands of hibiscus." Plants. If you have time then, you can come and see the flowers blooming all over the city."
The young man in a short shirt was a little confused by these words and could only nod his head in understanding.
After Lin Manliu left from Rongcheng, Ye Dangting asked Lin's mother to send two letters. One of them was written to the guerrilla general's house in Rongcheng: "Fengcheng Eastbound Caravan, his disciple." A letter was sent to the Lu Mansion in Hangzhou and he wrote: "I have accepted a disciple and come back on my behalf to deal with the opening of the village."
