On June 17, the beginning of autumn, Zhe Yanzhi left Luoyang City with his artillery and craftsmen. Wang Ruohai and a group of officials sent him out of the city, and waited until Zhe Yanzhi and his party had gone far before turning back. Zhe Yanzhi and his party left along the Nanxia Post Road.
Two men were sitting under the shed of a wine shop on the roadside of Longmen Town. While drinking, I looked at the scenery on the official road.
Suddenly, the people screamed and fled. Not long after, I saw a group of soldiers coming up the official road. Under the flag, the officials on horseback look majestic, solemn and solemn, looking forward to their glory. Behind the officials, there were several three-horse carts, and the things they were pulling were covered by thatch.
Staring at the cart until it was far away, the man picked up the wine bowl and drank it all in one gulp.
Another sigh whispered: "Brother, what you are pulling must be artillery. A three-horse cart can pull nearly two thousand kilograms. What else can it be besides cannon?"
The man nodded: "That official is Zhe Yanzhi, a member of the Zhe family in Fuzhou. He is now serving as the Privy Council of the Song Dynasty. When he went to Luoyang, he heard that he wanted artillery. That Wang Xiaolie is also interesting, such a sharp weapon. , if someone comes to ask for it, he will give it to him. It’s not wrong, we can just stop these people.”
After saying that, the man picked up the wine bottle and poured another bowl of wine.
The wine of the Song Dynasty was packed in jars, and there were also many bottles on the market. In "Water Margin", the wine Wu Song drank before fighting the tiger was called Toupingxiang, which should be bottled wine. Compared with later generations, wine bottles in the Song Dynasty were larger, generally one to two liters. The style of the bottle is relatively uniform and usually has the name of the wine store. Since the wine in most places is government-run, the government will recycle old bottles.
After drinking for a while, when they saw that Zhe Yanzhi and his party were far away, the two men stood up and followed them from a distance.
After passing Longmen, Zhe Yanzhi and his party stopped to rest when they arrived at Pengpo Town. The two men followed and stayed in an inn next to the post road.
When it got dark, a man left the inn and went to a delicatessen shop on the street to buy two kilograms of cooked beef and a few sesame seed cakes before returning to the shop. Put the sesame cakes and beef on the table, call the boy to bring a bottle of wine, and the two of them sat and drank.
After drinking a glass of wine, the man said: "It's strange, why hasn't Mr. He followed up? Could it be that there was an accident?"
Another man said: "No. Mr. He is very smart in his work, how could an accident happen?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the boy saying outside the door: "Two guests, there is a Heguan from Luoyang, who is an old friend of the two. I don't know if it is true or not?"
The man stood up immediately, jumped to the door and opened it. He said: "Where is this person? I do have an acquaintance named He."
The waiter said: "I asked the man to wait outside the store and came here to let me know."
When the man saw the boy finished speaking, his eyes rolled around. He took out a few copper coins with understanding, handed them to the boy, and said, "Brother, take this to buy wine."
The boy took the copper coins and smiled. After leading the man out of the inn, he pointed at a person standing under the locust tree outside the door and said, "Isn't that Mr. He Guan?"
When He heard this, he quickly turned around and said to the man: "As expected, he is here! Make it easy for me to find him!"
Saying goodbye to the boy, the two entered the inn. After entering the room, the man hurriedly said: "We just bought some meat and we are going out to drink."
Mr. He sat down outside, picked up the wine glass on the table and drank it in one gulp. He grabbed another piece of meat, threw it into his mouth and chewed it a few times. Then he said: "It can't be wrong. The one who left Luoyang City today was Zheyan, who was escorting the cannon back to Hangzhou. I found out clearly that there were not only cannons this time, but also the people who used the cannons, and the craftsmen who cast the cannons. They were all here." Come on! This is wealth sent from heaven, we can’t let it go!”
After hearing this, the man rubbed his hands happily. Said: "How are the members going to seize them?"
He Yuanwai thought for a while and said: "It is difficult to take action under Wang Xiaolie's rule, so we can only follow them all the way south. If they want to return to Hangzhou, they must take the Yangtze River waterway. Although Zhang Taiwei put down the Kong Yanzhou rebellion in Ezhou, Huang The area around Gu and Gwangju is still in chaos. As long as you plan carefully, it’s not difficult to seize the artillery!”
The man said: "It will take many days to get to Ezhou. Members are drinking outside."
He Yuanwai nodded, picked up the wine glass, and drank it all in one gulp. After drinking a few glasses of wine, the congratulator said: "From tomorrow onwards, you two will follow Zheyan. Don't follow too closely. They have a large team, and it won't be a problem if they are one or two days away. I will go to Suzhou to arrange manpower. .”
The man said: "That's right. Members, please rest assured, we will definitely not ruin things."
Another man said: "I saw the artillery on the road today. It is very heavy and requires three horses to pull it. Even if we capture it, it will be difficult to transport it back to the north."
He Yuanwai nodded: "Yes, I think so too. But I heard from people that Zheyan brought not only large artillery, but also some small artillery. We can't take away the big artillery, but the small artillery is not difficult. The most important thing , along with the artillery are the gunners and craftsmen. With them, why worry about not being able to make the artillery?"
The two men said yes together.
Officer He's external name is He Ning. He was originally from Yan and served as an official in the Khitan Dynasty. The Jin people destroyed the Khitan and surrendered to the Jin army.
It has been nearly two hundred years since Shi Jingtang dedicated the land of Youyan to the Khitan. Not only are there a mixture of Hu and Han people, but the mentality of the general Han people is also different from that of the Central Plains. Many of them had no sense of loyalty to the Central Plains Dynasty and were willing to serve as officials in the Khitan and Jin Dynasties.
After the Jin army destroyed the Khitan, the most trusted people were naturally the Jurchens, the second most trusted were the Yan people, and the third most trusted were the Khitans. In the Jin Dynasty, there were many Yan people serving as officials and some Yan people serving in the army, and most of them were trusted by the Jurchens.
After the First World War in Shaanzhou, the Jin army realized the role of artillery and tried every means to get it. Even the Puppet Qi could not believe this matter. If the Jurchens had not risen too fast and there were no suitable talents to work as spies in the Han region, even the Yan people would not want to use them.
There was no other way, so the Jin Dynasty had no choice but to use the Yan people. He Yuanwai was originally a strong man in the Jin Dynasty, and he made many military exploits after investing in the Jin Dynasty. Because he was smart and careful, he was selected by the Jin Dynasty and sent to Wang Xiaolie. The most important task is to steal the artillery to the Jin Dynasty. However, Wang Xiaolie's defense was too strict and he never had a chance. Zheyan came to Luoyang to ask for artillery. He Yuanwai thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and kept an eye on it.
Meng'an is known as Qianhu, but the actual commanding force is only a few hundred people. However, in the Jin Army, hundreds of people are already a force that cannot be ignored, roughly comparable to the control of Wang Xiao's hunting army. Jin Jun made great efforts to send He Ning to Luoyang.
He Ning selected seven people and followed him to Luoyang. He only said that he was a businessman who trafficked Beizhu, and he always acted cautiously. Although Wang Xiaolie sent people to monitor people coming from the north. But He Ning and others have been doing business honestly without any flaws.
