The eastern half of Ganzhou is currently under the rule of the King of Yue, that is, under the rule of the Jiangnan gentry.
The King of Yue was the largest spokesman for the gentry in Jiangnan.
Nowadays, the relationship between the King of Yue and the King of Wu is extremely tense, and there are signs of a war on both sides at any time.
Because the King of Wu represents official orthodox legal principles, the country's governance still follows the laws of Xu.
As for the King of Yue, almost all legal provisions favored the Jiangnan gentry.
These gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, as local bosses, have done everything in their lives except two things.
That is, good things are not done, and human affairs are not done.
In addition to these two things, the Jiangnan gentry also had three things they didn't do.
That is, taxes are not paid, people are not paid, and food is not paid.
In the early years of the Xu Kingdom, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River successfully took root here by giving priority to the lap of the founding emperor.
It was okay in the past few years. It contributed a lot of materials to the imperial court and was a stable rear area for the imperial court.
But later, as these gentry grew stronger, they began to evade taxes and resist taxes.
Especially since Emperor Xuanzhang, Xu's national strength began to decline, and these gentry began to directly owe money.
The taxes and so on that need to be paid are dragged on year after year.
Until the fall of Xu State, the debt has been in debt for more than 150 years.
He really dragged his creditor to death and was extremely free.
In fact, at the beginning of the troubled times, these gentry did not want to go it alone at first, but wanted to join the King of Wu and continue to enjoy life.
But King Wu was ambitious and was unwilling to be manipulated by them. He actually wanted to collect the taxes owed by the gentry over the years.
Just kidding, why should I pay back the money I owe based on my ability?
The gentry were not happy on the spot. They arranged several waves of assassins openly and secretly to get rid of King Wu, but they failed to succeed. Instead, King Wu seized the opportunity.
Seeing this, these guys simply stopped pretending and directly appointed a Yue king to take control of half of Ganzhou and compete with the king of Wu...
On the way to Jiehai Lake, you must pass through Liuwanfu.
This place is the current border between Wu and Yue, and there are a large number of Yue king's troops stationed in the city.
There are many waterways in the south, and the army is mainly naval.
There is a river and lake outside Liuwan Mansion, which has always been a battleground for military strategists during wartime.
It is said that there are thousands of sunken ships in the lake alone.
Today, there are many giant ships hovering on the rivers and lakes. Looking from a distance, they look very majestic.
There are many soldiers stationed at the inns along the official road. Although there are not many people, as soon as there is any trouble, these people will immediately turn into scouts.
Portraits of wanted criminals are posted in many densely populated places.
The person in one of the portraits is extremely ugly, but the reward amount is also extremely high.
This person is known as "evil and ugly" in the world, and he is very good at sneak attacks and disguises.
Relying on these two skills, he killed many gentry and wealthy people, and was an important wanted criminal within the Yue King's sphere of influence.
Along the way, there were quite a few pedestrians on the road, but they all walked with their heads down, not daring to look around for fear of being mistaken for spies sent by King Wu.
While everyone is marching with their heads down, there are always different fireworks.
Looking carefully, there are two horses, one white and one brown, walking on the official road.
There is one person on each horse. The person dressed as a scribe himself has no distinctive features, but he has a monkey, which looks unusual.
The boy on the other white horse deserves a lot of praise...
These two people were Ye Ming and Mr. Wu who were heading all the way to Jiehai Lake.
Looking at the scenes on both sides of the road, Mr. Wu sighed:
“It seems that chaos in Ganzhou is just around the corner.
I don’t know how many people will die to end this chaos. "
"Then sir, do you plan to contribute to the war effort?"
"What can I use to contribute? The pen in my hand? I only have so much writing skills."
As he spoke, Mr. Wu took a look at Dahaoheshan Road, which was still relatively calm at the moment.
“If I want to write about it, I must write about a prosperous country that is extremely powerful, where all barbarians are invincible, and where all the nations come to visit.
If you don’t ask for anything else, at least let people in the present see a little hope for the future. "
"Sir, this is a good idea. I'm looking forward to it even more."
As he spoke, he pointed to the vaguely visible rivers and lakes:
"Next, we have to walk a section of waterway, just in time to see the scenery in the lake."
Mr. Wu is also Zhenshou and thinks this is good.
Nowadays, although interrogation is strict, there is no blockade and you can go anywhere.
The two led their horses and boarded a larger merchant ship to tour the rivers and lakes.
The merchant ship was carrying silk cloth and some guests.
One family was a couple. The man was dressed as a Confucian scholar. Even though the weather was not hot at all, he was holding a folding fan and a sword hanging on his waist. He looked quite dignified.
His wife is also a delicate beauty, I feel pity for her when I see her.
Others on the ship did not dare to communicate with the "master" dressed like this, and were very respectful to him.
The man also seemed disdainful of communicating with other mud-legged people, and his attitude was quite arrogant.
After seeing Ye Ming and the others boarding the boat, the man's expression softened slightly.
When Mr. Wu saw the other person, he knew that he was also a scholar.
Generally speaking, when literary people meet each other, whether they know each other or not, they will say hello to avoid being rude.
After the two parties greeted each other, they reported their homes.
The man said that his name was Chen Yuan, and that he was a descendant of a gentry family in the south of the Yangtze River. This time he brought his newlywed wife to serve under the King of Yue.
Originally, his attitude was quite good, but after hearing Mr. Wu's name, his face suddenly turned cold, and he looked a little disdainful of being associated with him.
In his opinion, Mr. Wu, a market writer, was not even worthy of carrying shoes for people like them who recited articles about saints and sages, and he despised Mr. Wu.
Mr. Wu was not happy when he saw the other party's arrogant attitude. He had no intention of following others, so he waved his sleeves and stopped talking to him.
The merchant ship sailed slowly on the lake. The arrogant Chen Yuan and his beloved wife stood on the side of the ship and looked around, reciting poems and composing poems, looking high-spirited.
His wife was laughing and praising him, showing admiration for his literary talent.
Seeing this, Chen Yuan was even more pleased with himself and continued to show off his poetry.
Just as he was enjoying himself, there was an ugly looking servant with a crooked mouth and slanted eyes who accidentally scattered some sawdust at Chen Yuan's feet.
The ugly handyman quickly ran over and cleaned up at Chen Yuan's feet.
When Chen Yuan saw this, his face darkened, and he punched and kicked the handyman, causing him to scream in agony.
After beating the handyman, Chen Yuan felt better.
Seeing the handyman leaving with his head in his arms, Chen Yuan just laughed and said:
"Despicable low-class people deserve to live in the mud for the rest of their lives!"
When Mr. Wu saw this scene over there, he frowned repeatedly. Although he had written similar plots about the bullying of people from rich families, he still couldn't help but feel angry when he saw this kind of thing happening in front of his eyes.
When Ye Ming saw this, he just smiled.
Seeing this man's smile, Mr. Wu subconsciously felt that something was wrong.
During this period of time, as long as this guy shows this kind of smile, someone is bound to be in trouble.
At present, it seems that Chen Yuan is the unlucky one...
After sailing for a while, the boat met another merchant ship.
Both ships were owned by the same family. If they wanted to free up their cargo, they would ask the people on the ship to go to the other ship.
When Chen Yuan heard this, he suddenly became impatient.
Frankly speaking, taking this boat was already giving face to the shop owner of their boat shop, and he had to exchange it again and again, which made him extremely dissatisfied.
When the ship steward heard this, he didn't dare to offend this man. After talking for a long time, he still couldn't make sense.
In the end, a special passenger ship could only be mobilized and Chen Yuan was asked to board.
To show sincerity, the ship carried Chen Yuan and his wife, and also sent a handyman who had been beaten by Chen Yuan before to help.
When Chen Yuan saw the ship steward's arrangement, he nodded with satisfaction and took his wife on board the ship with a haughty look on his face.
Seeing that this man didn't encounter anything until he left the ship, Mr. Wu couldn't help but look at Ye Ming strangely.
"What are you looking at me for? Change the boat!"
After Ye Ming said something, he took Wu Hou and two horses to the vacated merchant ship first.
Seeing this, Mr. Wu also hurriedly followed.
The passenger ship that Chen Yuan and his wife took alone was not moving very fast, but it was more than ten feet in front of the merchant ship they were on. People with good eyesight could directly see what happened on the ship.
It can be seen that Chen Yuan had a very bad attitude towards the ugly handyman by beating, scolding and bullying him at will.
After a while, the couple returned to the cabin to rest, and nothing could be seen outside.
Jiangliuhu is not a small place, especially if you want to go to Liuwanfu. If the boat speed is not fast, it will take you one night.
As the sun sets in the west, after dinner, everyone on the boat calms down and goes to rest.
Mr. Wu also returned to the cabin to rest.
He hadn't been on boats much and wasn't used to sleeping on them.
After sleeping for a while, I felt a little insomnia.
We simply got up and went to the deck to get some fresh air.
Passing by the cabin where Ye Ming was resting, I originally wanted to try to wake him up to show him that "Ye Ming is still awake".
But after thinking about it, I still chose to give up.
Just go out alone.
At this time, everyone was sleeping soundly, there was no one on the deck, and the breeze on the river was blowing, which made people feel very comfortable.
Well, except for being a little cold.
Mr. Wu took a few breaths of fresh, moist air and felt very comfortable.
Looking up at the sky again, I saw that the sky was thick with dark clouds tonight, there was almost no light, and the river was also pitch black.
I wanted to stand for a while and then go back to the cabin to rest.
Suddenly, he heard another noise on the deck, and when he was confused, he realized that Wu Hou came out and jumped onto his shoulder.
"Why, you can't sleep either?"
Wu Hou didn't answer, just scratched his cheek and looked in the direction of the passenger ship ahead.
Because it was dark, only the vague shadow of the ship ahead could be seen.
Mr. Wu looked around and just when he thought there was nothing interesting to see, he suddenly saw someone coming out of the cabin on the passenger ship where Chen Yuan and his wife were traveling.
Not only did he come out, he also carried a sack on his shoulders. He walked straight to the side of the ship and threw it hard.
The sack was thrown into the river and sank directly.
When Mr. Wu saw this, he was a little confused. What happened before?
It's late at night, why do you come out to throw away debris?
While he was wondering, he saw the figure throwing the sack back into the cabin.
Then everything became quiet.
Mr. Wu felt very strange when he saw this.
It's just that his impression of Chen Yuan was really bad, and he didn't want to meddle in such nosy matters.
Doubts remain doubts, so go back and rest as usual.
In the early morning of the next day, both ships arrived outside Liuwan Mansion.
Because there are many ships coming and going, the distance between the two ships is shortened and they are walking together.
Mr. Wu looked at the passenger ship next door and saw Chen Yuan and his wife standing by the side of the ship with a normal expression, waiting to disembark.
But Mr. Wu soon discovered the problem, and Chen Yuan was now a little rude.
Although he and the woman were husband and wife, according to today's etiquette, they should not hold hands in public. This was offensive.
Moreover, Mr. Wu also found that the woman seemed to have bruises on the side of her face, as if she had been beaten.
Especially his expression, which looked a little haggard, as if he had just experienced great fear, and he was completely different from yesterday.
At this time, he looked completely frightened towards Chen Yuan and did not even dare to say a word.
This made Mr. Wu somewhat suspicious.
Taking advantage of the two ships docking, Chen Yuan took his wife off the ship and stepped forward and said to Chen Yuan:
"Brother Chen, as the saying goes, 'It's better to dissolve enemies than to make knots, and a line of egrets ascend to the sky.' It's fate that you and I met each other. We had a little collision yesterday, so forget it!"
When Chen Yuan heard this, he nodded, his expression unchanged, and just said, "I don't care."
After saying that, he took his wife and left.
His wife was pulled away. Before she left, she turned around in fear and looked at Mr. Wu with a pleading look in her eyes. She opened her mouth slightly and only moved her mouth movements, but made no sound and had no idea what she was saying.
Seeing the couple walking away, Mr. Wu's eyes narrowed slightly:
"I didn't even hear any problems with the poems I pieced together haphazardly..."
...
