"What's going on?" Li Dan put down his drink and turned around to ask.
Liu Erye crossed his hands and replied: "Sanlang, there are some businessmen looking for you outside."
There was a sudden rumble in the room. Han An hurriedly said: "Slow down, slow down." Then asked the waiter: "Who is the leader?"
"It's leader Wei Xiong." Seeing everyone baring their teeth and staring as if they were about to fight him out, the guy was so frightened that his teeth chattered.
"Oh!" Han An turned around and leaned down and whispered in Li Dan's ear: "The leader of the guard is fine. He shouldn't be here because of Yang Baihu's affairs."
What this means is that in order to arrest hundreds of households, Zhou Dutou must come forward in person.
Li Dan nodded, stood up and pressed his hands: "Brothers, don't worry, it shouldn't be a big deal. Wait a moment, I'll go take a look." After saying that, he adjusted the sleeves of his robe and asked the assistant to lead him downstairs to see Wei Xiong.
When I came down and took a look, it turned out that Wei Xiong was sitting in the shop drinking tea, and two servants were holding a porcelain bowl under the shed outside and chatting without coming in.
"Oh, Sanlang is really here. I came here specially to give you a message." Seeing him coming down, Wei Xiong quickly stood up and clasped his fists.
"Oh? Old Wei, are you here specially? What's the emergency?" Li Dan was quite surprised.
"Let's talk business first." Wei Xiong asked him to sit down seriously, and he sat down halfway, and then said:
"There's a riot in the south! The miners in Xianxialing rioted and killed a counselor of the Fujian Chief Secretary. The officers and soldiers protected the injured commander and fled until they reached Jiangshan County.
An official document from Raozhou Prefecture has arrived in the county. It is necessary to recruit a general (about 450 people) in Wannian to assist Qianshan. We are asked to send a hundred and twenty soldiers from the county to arrive in Wannian within 15 days. use. "
Li Dan listened for a long time and was puzzled: "After all, what does this matter have to do with me?"
Wei Xiong laughed "hehe", pointed at him and said: "Sanlang, your name as 'Little Yuanba' is too loud!
These masters will be led by two captains. General Zhaoyi pointed out one of them, Zhao Cheng, and the other recommended you. "
"Huh?" Li Dan was shocked. Just as he was about to express his gratitude, he suddenly remembered that he was already fifteen and was indeed old enough to apply.
But..., he patted the back of his head and said, "No, I've never heard of anyone in the Li family serving as a servant. My father was a fourth-grade magistrate during his lifetime. Why was this servant sent to my house?"
"You don't know?" Wei Xiong was stunned for a moment: "Your family submitted the application form, requiring the three households to split their property and have separate houses. A few days later, Mr. Fan came to witness the implementation in person.
Your mother also applied to the county for a second house and then divided it into two households, on the grounds that Sanlang you could be independent when you turned fifteen, and Mr. Fan approved it.
So this afternoon, the registration book in the household has been changed, and you and Li Qian have become a family of their own... "
Before he finished speaking, Li Dan was already filled with anger: "I didn't expect them to bully me like this!"
He finally understood the reason why the county sent him on official business. Since you are independent and over fifteen years old, of course you should handle the corvee and taxes on your own.
So if someone else recommends this to you, there’s nothing wrong with it!
When it comes to recommending Li Dan, he is even more angry: "General Zhaoyi? Are you saying that Zhao Zhaoxuan's father recommended me to Lord Fan?"
"Exactly, the county magistrate invited him not only for the matter of the conscripts, but also because the government ordered the counties to strengthen their vigilance to prevent bandits from taking the opportunity to incite and cause chaos, so he invited General Zhaoyi to discuss it."
"What the hell does he know! Recommendation? I think it's true that he has bad intentions and wants to avenge himself!" Li Dan said angrily:
"My uncle and third uncle had already made up their mind to separate their families. How could they have a drink with the county magistrate and clan elders?
But this house does things really fast. While I was still drinking and drinking, they got everything done. Huh, I wonder how much money my mother spent? "
"Sanlang, be careful!" Wei Xiong waved to him hurriedly: "I came here to deliver news to you, so please don't get me involved."
"Don't worry, Lao Wan!" Li Dan knew that he had made a mistake, so he bowed and apologized: "You talk too much after drinking, which is inappropriate, brother Wan Haihan!"
Suddenly I remembered what he just said: "Hey, by the way, you just said this was a business matter, is there any private matter?"
"Uh..." Wei Xiong looked embarrassed. Seeing Li Dan's angry look, he thought he would just forget it if he forgot, but he didn't expect that this guy had a good memory.
"Sanlang, if I tell you, don't be angry." He said carefully.
"Huh? You just said it, why are you so long-winded?" Li Dan was impatient.
"Before I came out, a special messenger came from Yingtian Mansion with a message..."
"It's related to the Chen family, how do you say it?" Li Dan immediately glared.
"The emperor commuted Mr. Chen's sentence to military confinement and sent him to Lanzhou."
This bolt from the blue shocked Li Dan. Going to Lanzhou? Then, what you originally thought was all in vain, what should Meng'er do? How could she endure such a bitter cold place?
He stood up with a bang. Wei Xiong's father-in-law had already noticed the situation, stretched out his arms and hugged him, shouting, "Brother, no, no!"
"What can't be done?" Li Dan asked blankly.
"Have you forgotten? The county magistrate has assigned you to take your wife to Wannian. If you dare not get into trouble at this time, if you are accused of intentionally fighting to avoid a business trip, your future will be over!
Think about your aunt, what would she do if you had a problem? "
Li Dan glared and turned to look at him, nodded slowly and said: "Oh——, you didn't come here to report the trouble for a long time, but you came to block me on the order of the county magistrate, right?"
Seeing Wei Xiong grinning in embarrassment, he shouted sternly: "Let go, let go!"
Wei Xiong knew very well that he couldn't stop him alone, and bringing the two of them was too much.
While he was in a hurry, Gu Da, Yang Yi and others happened to hear the noise and came down from above to check. Wei Xiong shouted: "Xiao Yi, help me, Sanlang is going out to cause trouble!"
After hearing this, Gu Da and others didn't ask for any reason. They rushed forward, pulled his arms and legs, and surrounded Li Dan. Everyone shouted: "Sanlang, you can't do this!"
On the contrary, the two servants outside the door stretched their heads when they heard it, their eyes wide open and they didn't know what was going on.
Li Dan was helpless and shouted: "You guys all let go." He turned around and asked Gu Da: "Do you know what I am going to do?"
"I don't know, where is Saburo going?"
"I wonder if you are still holding my legs?"
Yang Yi recognized the truth after hearing this: "Then, where is Sanlang going?"
Li Dan turned to Wei Xiong: "What do you mean?"
"Sanlang is going to break down the door of General Zhaoyi's mansion?"
"Wrong!" Li Dan sneered: "I want to go home."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other and gradually let go. Liu Er complained:
"Look at you guys, you rushed up to me without hearing me clearly. I thought something big had happened. Why is it so surprising that Saburo wants to go home?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Dan somehow shook his body and got rid of everyone, jumped out of the circle with a "boo", twisted his body again and reached the middle of the street, loudly saying:
"Oh, I went home to get sticks and rob the prison van! You all stand still and no one is allowed to follow!" After saying that, he spread his legs and ran away.
Wei Xiong called from behind: "Sanlang, Tiqi has already set off, I'm afraid you won't be able to catch up!" Li Dan ignored him and just ran away.
The old housekeeper Li Pu was staring at people at the door with his hands behind his back. Suddenly he felt a gust of wind behind him. He turned around and looked inside, and only had time to see the back.
"Who is that?" he asked Xiuji, who was standing by the door in a daze.
"Uh, it seems to be Saburo." Xiu Er bowed obsequiously and replied, "In our house, Saburo is the only one who can run so fast."
Li Dan was standing in a daze outside his courtyard at this time, wondering what he should do first.
Judging from Wei Xiong's words, the uncle, mother and third uncle have quietly decided on the separation of the property, and even the separation of the second house has been settled this afternoon.
The county has always done things slowly, but this time it was faster! But Li Dan didn't have time to think about why it happened so quickly. He was wondering whether he should tell his aunt about this.
Just as I was thinking about it, suddenly the door opened. Bei Xi came out with a basin of water and poured it on the gravel surface of the alley. She saw him in a blink of an eye and smiled: "Hey, brother, why don't you go in? Auntie just now is still asking..."
"Shh!" Li Dan stretched out his finger to make a silent sound, then called her over and whispered: "Go get my iron rod, I want to go out of the city."
"Leaving the city so late?" Beixi looked up at the sky.
Only then did Li Dan notice that the setting sun was dyeing half of the sky red, and he would not be able to leave until he reached the city gate. As for the separation of assets, let’s talk about it tomorrow.
"My aunt asked me to go out of the city to do my business. Someone came to see me tonight and said that I was a little cold after eating wine and had already burned my feet and went to bed first."
Bei happily agreed, went in quietly, took out the eyebrow-level stick wrapped with iron at both ends from behind the door, handed it to Li Dan, and whispered: "Brother, be careful, don't get into trouble when you go out!"
"I got it." Li Dan was about to leave with the stick in hand. He thought it would be better to leave a message, so he told Bei Xi what Wei Xiong had said today about the property split and the separation of the second house and the second house, and then warned:
"Tell my aunt this, and then tell her that I am looking for a village outside the city. When we find a good place, we will move out and live here. We won't suffer from this trouble here!"
Tell her to stay still and don't mess with the front yard now. "
"Oh my god, are you really going to kick us out of the front yard? Well, what will my aunt do if you're not here, Sanlang?" Beixi stamped her feet anxiously.
Li Dan thought for a moment and smiled: "I'll be back soon. Besides, it's not difficult for my aunt to deal with this matter. Just tell her and reassure her!"
After speaking, he ran a few steps, turned back and waved, then disappeared at the end of the alley.
But it was impossible for Li Dan to carry the stick and go out from the main gate in a big way. He first went to the back to find some cloth strips and wrapped the two ends of the stick to make it look like a pole. Then he climbed out from the wall and hurried towards the water gate.
Why Watergate? The south gate of Yugan is called Deshengmen, which is the land route across Yushui to Guixi. The east gate, also called Yufeng Gate, dates back ten thousand years, and it is even more impossible for Tiqi to go there.
Pengze Gate in the north goes to Poyang, the capital of Raozhou. If you want to go to Nanchang Mansion, you can only walk through the water gate adjacent to Dongshan Pier - also called Dongshan Gate.
From here, get on the boat and take the waterway via Longjin into the Xinjiang River, disembark at Tangnan Crossing of Wuyang River, and then go by land.
This is the quickest, least labor-intensive and safest. Nothing else should be Tiqi's choice.
He walked quickly, and when he arrived at Watergate Pier, he stopped a familiar captain and asked, "Have you ever seen two knights in red?"
"Sanlang, what are you doing in Nancheng today when you have time?" The chief said, noticing the anxious look on his face, he quickly changed his tone and said:
"Just now they were looking for a boat to Nanchang. I remember... they seemed to be going to the W-shaped wharf outside the city. There was an ox cart and four businessmen following..."
Li Dan didn't want to listen to what he had to say, so he shouted "Thank you" and hurried out of the city.
It turns out that the Dongshan Gate has both water and land gates. Shuimen is also called Shuiguan. It has three arched gates and is blocked by a wooden fence at night.
Coming in is the water gate and the tax collection gate. After passing the gate, there is a small berth, surrounded by a city wall.
From left to right, there are five inner piers from A to E. Ships that have paid the tax can stay overnight at the inner dock to unload, load cargo, or disembark to purchase supplies.
Boats that do not pay taxes are best docked at the temporary docks by the lake outside the city, also from A to E.
Because it is inconvenient to supply and load goods, most of the ships docked here are passenger ships, and they are not allowed to stay fifty steps close to the city wall. The ships must be moved to anchor farther away at night.
The real Dongshan Gate is actually the Lu Gate next to Shuiguan. Guests who disembark outside can pass through this gate on foot or by carriage or sedan chair to enter the city.
The door opening is not wide, just enough for two carriages to drive side by side.
Five feet away is a ring of urn city walls that was added after the founding of the dynasty. The urn city gate faces the lake to the east but is narrower. One carriage has to go out before another can come in.
The Waiwu Pier was the furthest away from the city gate. Li Dan ran fifty feet south before he saw the Pier.
There was an official ship and a sand boat docked at the pier, and a man who looked like a servant was leading a horse down the steps of the sand boat.
On the other side, you can see what seems to be the female family members uploading, and there are officers on the shore carrying luggage.
Two men carrying knives were talking on the shore. When they saw him hurrying over, they immediately shouted: "Who is it? The family members of the imperial convict are here, please stay away!"
