Xiangyang City of the Song Dynasty, in a tavern
Huo Ji pressed down his hat and moved closer to the fat man.
After drinking a bowl of wine, the fat man smacked his lips a few times, then cleared his throat and said: "I am a cloth merchant from Xiangyang. When I went to Sichuan to buy silk two months ago, I was trapped in Chengdu due to a military disaster, and just when I was worrying about how to escape, I happened to catch up with the imperial imperial army attacking Chengdu..."
"Can you imagine that a fortified city like Chengdu, with a high city and a deep pool, and tens of thousands of rebels garrisoned it, was attacked by officers and soldiers in one day! The rebels looked cruel and brutal, but they were actually refugees who had no food to eat. In the past, When they had nothing, they were not afraid of wearing shoes. They burned, killed and looted everywhere with such ferocity that even the officers and soldiers were no match. However, once they had robbed enough and their wives and concubines had no worries about food and clothing, these people became greedy and fearful of death. When the officers and soldiers attacked the city, they only cared about the safety of their families and property. They no longer had the vigor they had at the beginning of the uprising. The leaders of the rebels only knew how to sing and sing every night and live happily day by day. Even if a few of them were sober at that time, The situation, but Naihe can’t influence the overall situation!”
"After the city of Chengdu was broken, the city was in chaos. The rebels who had no intention of fighting fled in all directions. A fire broke out in the rebel palace. It is said that the bandit leader Li Shun set fire to himself when he saw that the situation was over. However, many people believe that it was Li Shun. "The golden cicada escapes from its shell" plan."
"Sure enough, after many inquiries and searches, the officers and soldiers learned that when the city was breached, the bandit leader Li Shun and several rebel leaders escaped from the city along the secret passage set up earlier in the city and hid in a place in Qingcheng Mountain Inside the cave..."
Hearing this, Huo Ji's heart slowly sank, his pupils shrank slightly, and he lamented in his heart: "Tianshi Cave..."
"Then what happened next?" A group of diners around him listened in fascination. Seeing that the fat businessman picked up the wine bowl again after saying this, they asked eagerly.
The fat businessman put down his wine bowl and took a few mouthfuls of food with chopsticks, chewed a few times, and continued: "The officers and soldiers and a group of knights and knights came to Qingcheng Mountain and surrounded the cave. After a fierce battle, the rebels were all wiped out. .According to later news from the army, Li Shun and several rebel leaders fought fiercely until the end, unwilling to be captured and humiliated, so they jumped off the cliff and committed suicide. When the officers and soldiers searched at the bottom of the cliff, they found Li Shun, Chu Lihan, After the bodies of Nangong Wu, Leng Qixian and other bandit leaders were identified, the officers and soldiers took their heads back to ask for credit. Two days later, General Lu Bin of Zizhou also led his officers and soldiers to attack and defeated Among the tens of thousands of rebels led by the bandit Zhang Yu, only Zhang Yu escaped under the desperate protection of a few personal soldiers, and it was difficult to accomplish anything. The chaos in Shu has been completely put down!"
The surrounding diners also cheered after hearing this, happy that the chaos was over.
Huo Ji on the side was in a daze for a while. After hearing the news of the death of his eldest brother Chu Lihan, second brother Nangong Wu and ninth sister Leng Qixian, his body shook slightly. Fortunately, he calmed down. , to calm himself down, but the teacup in his hand had been crushed to pieces. Fortunately, everyone around him was cheering and shouting, and no one noticed anything strange about him.
Huo Ji walked out of the tavern and onto the long street. He raised his head and looked at the sky. In the twelfth lunar month, although the sun hit his face, it didn't feel warm at all.
Huo Ji looked at the crowds of people on the street in confusion, heading in their own directions, but he didn't know where his own direction was. The rebel uprising has failed, and it is meaningless to go to the Liao Kingdom to discuss alliances. Now he is the only one left among the brothers and sisters of the Kowloon Society. Although he has been wandering for half his life, he is in his prime, but he has been defeated by repeated failures. He was disheartened.
If you don't know how to do it, you will ride on a boat and float in the sea! He also wanted to put aside his grudges and hide away for the rest of his life, but he was burdened with the blood feud of his brothers and sisters, and could not tolerate him living in seclusion in the mountains and forests. He wanted to take revenge on the world and pay homage to the spirits of his brothers and sisters in heaven.
He set his sights on the center of the world - Bianjing City. Maybe if I go to Bianjing and take risks, I might have some chances.
After a few days of trekking, Huo Ji arrived at Bianjing City. After changing his appearance for a while, Huo Ji abandoned his eye-catching bamboo hat and walked on the Suzaku Street in Bianjing.
In the cold wind, most of the pedestrians on the street were coming and going in a hurry, and there was a vendor selling candied haws on the street who was also rushing to a temple where there was a lot of people. Next to a tea stall, Huo Ji stopped. After asking for tea, Huo Ji sat at the tea table next to the tea stall. While the waiter was making tea, Huo Ji asked the shopkeeper who was pounding the abacus on the side. He took on the identity of the owner of the cars and sedans that shuttled back and forth on Zhuque Street.
The shopkeeper put down the abacus and account books in his hands, walked to Huo Ji's desk with a smile, and said, "Is your guest a foreigner? In the capital, it may be difficult to tell which street is the most prosperous, but it's hard to tell which street is the busiest. There are many high-ranking officials on this street, so it belongs to Zhuque Street. Just look at the carriages, horses and sedans. You can see that what is coming towards you is the sedan of Mr. Zhang, the Minister of Rites. The carriage and sedan that just passed by are from the Ministry of War. Mr. Wu, the right servant, look at the carriage with the flag of the Wu family... People in the Ministry of War don’t like to carry sedans. Most people travel or enter the palace by horseback or carriage..."
Sure enough, on the side of the carriage door, there was a small flag with the word "武" in it, flapping in the cold wind.
Huo Ji nodded. At this time, the waiter also brought the brewed tea. Huo Ji picked up the tea bowl and took a sip. The thick tea soup flowed to the whole body with a stream of heat, relieving the cold and fatigue.
At this time, the shopkeeper looked at Xiang Chang Street and said: "This carriage should belong to the Tianbo Yang family, but the Yang family lives in the east of the city and rarely comes here. It seems that they are also attending the temple fair!" "
Huo Ji, who was drinking tea, was stunned when he heard this, his pupils shrank, and he thought to himself, "Tianbo Yang Mansion... Yang Yunfan!..."
Then he suddenly looked up at the carriage, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and then he lowered his head without missing a beat and continued to drink tea. After throwing down some copper coins, he walked towards the direction where the carriage disappeared, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally.
On the Yang Mansion's carriage, the butler Yang Hong was sitting in front of the carriage, with a thick leather jacket wrapped around his neck and body, but it was still unable to block the biting cold wind. While driving the horse forward with a whip, he controlled the direction and speed with the reins in his hands. It was obvious that his driving skills were very good.
Inside the carriage, a thick blanket covered the carriage. An old woman with white hair, about seventy years old, was sitting on the thick blanket with a faucet crutch in her hand. Sitting next to her was a man about thirty years old. A woman of about 12 years old and two children, a boy and a girl. The boy is about eleven or twelve years old, and the girl is about eight or nine years old.
These three people are Mrs. She of the Yang Mansion, Yang Yanzhao's wife Yelu Jin'e, and her two children Wu'er and Li'er.
