Shi Mao was stunned, smiled, bowed and crossed his hands: "Please follow the defense..."
"Hey, I told you there are no defenders here!"
"Okay, okay, Brother Yu, just follow your orders." Shi Mao had to change his mind: "Sanlang, please use some tea. How does my 'Mugu Youxiang' taste?"
Li Dan picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, turning it around on his tongue to taste, swallowing slowly and savoring the aftertaste, nodding and saying:
"The entrance is wild and unrestrained, with the fragrance of flowers and plants in the mouth. After swallowing, the sweetness lasts for a long time, and the fragrance of tea lingers in the breath.
After drinking this tea, you will feel refreshed and refreshed. It is indeed a good tea!
Brother said it’s called ‘Wugu Youxiang’? Is it only produced in the valley behind?
Oops, I just flooded it, won’t it be flooded?”
"No!" Shi Mao shook his head: "This tea is produced on a high sunny slope in the Valley. There are only a dozen trees in total, all of which are hundreds of years old.
The tea leaves produced every year are less than five kilograms, and I only take one kilogram for my own use."
"Brother is very familiar with the method of frying tea?"
At that time, fried tea (fried green tea) had already appeared. Because the process was simple and benefited the people, it spread quickly and was widely used among the people.
However, the court, officials, and Confucian scholars regard it as "vulgar", and most of them stick to the ancient methods of steaming and grinding, and think that the tea (duan cake) is elegant.
Li Dan's question was actually intended to test Shi Mao's identity and background.
"My brother has a rough nature and doesn't tolerate complexity." Shi Mao chuckled and replied:
“After the middle period of the previous dynasty, loose tea became more common.
As of this dynasty, Emperor Renzong issued an edict: tea farmers could just pick buds and dry them in the tea, without making tea groups. Officials were not allowed to refuse tea tribute on this basis.
Does Sanlang know what the holy will is?"
"Want to hear."
"Some people think that Emperor Renzong doesn't like the taste of rice balls, but actually that's secondary.
The important point is that the late emperor did not want to trouble the tea farmers and increase their labor, so he vigorously promoted loose tea and did not follow the extravagant customs of the previous Song dynasties."
"Oh, so that's it!" Li Dan raised his eyebrows, touched his knees and sighed:
"What a pity! Youling (the name of the mausoleum of Emperor Renzong) has been in power for eleven years, and he has carried out so many benevolent policies.
If there were another eleven years of benevolent government, perhaps the world would be even more prosperous than today!"
Taizu of this dynasty was proclaimed emperor as a descendant of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, and the restored country was named "Great Song".
People are accustomed to call the period from Jingkang to the "previous Song Dynasty", the area after Jingkang as the "Southern Song Dynasty", and this dynasty as the "present Song Dynasty".
With the same surname of Zhao, this dynasty paid great attention to drawing clear boundaries with the officials of the "Pre-Song Dynasty" and the "Southern Song Dynasty".
Taizu believed that the excessive extravagance of the former Song Dynasty and the cowardice and ignorance of the later Song Dynasty were lessons from the past, so he left an edict on his deathbed: future emperors should be frugal and simple, do not waste people's efforts, keep strengthening the army, and never surrender until they surrender.
So far, the subsequent generations of emperors have performed fairly well.
"Brother, you are learning this way because loose tea will definitely be in the upper echelons of society in the future?"
"No, or it's not the only reason." Shi Mao stood up from the stool and bowed to the ground.
Li Dan hurriedly held up his hands in surprise: "Brother, why is this?"
"Sanlang treats Mao with sincerity, but Mao conceals his name to show you that he is really despicable, so I beg for your forgiveness."
"Ah?" Li Dan calmed down and looked at Shi Mao carefully: "Brother, please sit down and speak slowly."
After returning to his seat, Shi Mao said:
"My surname is not Shi, but Wu.
My father, Wu Jiang, sent thousands of households from Luoyang to the army during Emperor Taizong's calamity. After the emperor was pacified, he served as the commander of the Qianshi in Jianzhou (Fujian). During the Renzong Dynasty, he also served as the admiral of Fuzhou Navy.
Due to his involvement in a maritime smuggling case, Emperor Xuanzong was dismissed from office in the early years, his family property was confiscated, and his family was exiled to Guangzhou.
After I ascended the throne, I was pardoned, but my family did not want to return to Jianzhou again. The emperor graciously granted me the title of Hussar Lieutenant, and my elder brother was given the title of Duke and appointed as the Tribute Tea Envoy of Guangdong."
"Oh, so you know so much about tea?"
Wu Mao smiled and continued:
"At that time, I was living a carefree life with my father and brother. I had no intention of taking the imperial examination and spent most of my time at teahouses and porcelain kilns.
I had a great time chatting with the craftsmen and learned a lot of miscellaneous things.
Unfortunately, later, for some reason, someone said that there were insects in the tribute tea. Taipu Temple investigated and fired my brother...
After that, I left home and wandered around the world. I was incapable of doing anything, so why bother others.
Staying at home would be a waste of money, so I thought about it and started looking for temples to eat.
No, I didn’t expect that you and I would be destined to sit at the same table in Lingyan Temple.” After saying this, he couldn’t help but sigh.
Unexpectedly, he was originally a martial arts disciple, but in this generation, he had to hide in the temple and earn a living. Li Dan was silent.
Although I don’t have much contact with Wu Mao, I can see that he is a knowledgeable, talented and optimistic person.
If this dear friend is asked to take the imperial examination, he may not be willing to do so. But in today's world, it is obvious that he cannot become an official without taking the imperial examination. And given his status and background, if you ask him to be a craftsman or a merchant, although he can compete with such
I'm close to people, but deep down I don't want to blend in.
Li Dan chatted with him slowly and found that he had a lot of knowledge about geography, astronomy, biology, and history. With his eyes rolling, he asked Mao Zaidi to bring him the picture he drew last night to show him.
"This is...?" Wu Mao recognized it at a glance, but asked first: "How can you draw as if you are in front of your eyes? What kind of pen is this? Is it charcoal?"
Li Dan smiled and took the paper from his hand, took out the pencil from his pocket, glanced at Wu Mao and told him not to move, then "swiped" a few strokes with an oil lamp and handed it over to him to see.
.
Wu Mao looked at it with his mouth wide open for a long time before saying: "This, this, Sanlang is not only a poet, but also a good fighter, but he can also do this kind of Thai and Western painting skills?"
"Hey, how did you know this is a Thai and Western painting method?" Li Dan's eyes lit up.
"I have lived in Guangzhou since I was a child, and I have met many Thai and Westerners from the south. One of them would paint portraits everywhere, and anyone who asked him to paint would be rewarded with a silver coin."
"Oh?" Li Dan became interested, and he began to discover Wu Maocai's usefulness. "Then do you know how to speak Thai and Western?" he asked quickly.
"You mean Latin? I know a little bit about it. I learned it from their doctor named... Frank."
"Frank? This is a Thai country, it shouldn't be my name."
"Maybe, he asked me to call him You Bububu. Maybe that's his name?"
"You are not convinced?" Li Dan almost laughed out loud: "Yusuf, right? This guy is a Jew."
“What is Jewish?”
"They are one of their ethnic groups, just like our Miao and Zhuang people, they have different customs from the Han people."
"I understand." Wu Mao felt that the more he spoke, the more he looked like a student who didn't understand anything.
"He taught you Latin. Didn't he follow the ship when it left the port?" Li Dan asked.
"Alas, his ship encountered pirates on the way and half of them died.
Later, the ship owner sold the ship and gave the money to other ship owners, asking them to take away their crew members. He was a very loyal person!"
Li Dan stood up and immediately sat down again. "The captain didn't leave? Did Yusuf stay with him?"
"Yes, he stayed with him as he still had some money in his hand. He helped people carry things on the dock every day to make ends meet. Well, in addition to Yusuf, there were two Thai monks following him."
"Now, where is he?"
"I don't know." Wu Mao shook his head: "I don't know their situation after I came out. Why, brother Xian is interested in them?"
Li Dan smiled and did not continue the topic, and said: "Brother, it is such a pity that a person as knowledgeable and versatile as you is here to accompany the Buddha every day but does not benefit the world!"
As he spoke, he gently tapped the roll of paper on the table with Wu Mao's silhouette under the lamp.
"Oh, by the way, can Saburo please let me take another look?"
With Li Dan's consent, Wu Mao picked up the pieces of paper again and looked through them one by one.
Finally, he pointed to one and said: "This is a telescope? I saw that Captain Taixi also has one in his hand."
"Exactly. My little brother got a picture book "Taiwan Things" before, which contains this thing, but the principle of it is unknown.
During this battle, I suddenly remembered that if there was such a sharp weapon to detect, it would be easy to observe the enemy's movements.
So I drew it and tried to see if I could replicate it successfully."
When they talked about practical things, both of them were very interested. Unknowingly, the sky had completely darkened. Suddenly Mao Zaidi shouted: "Which one?"
"Heimu." A familiar and deep voice came from the dusk. Soon Heimu appeared at the door and said with a mouth full of white teeth: "Defense, Shanda people are here."
"Are you alone in this dark time? Did you come here without eating?" Li Dan felt a little surprised.
"No, Gu Da and Brother Yang are having wine with him in the main hall." Hei Mu replied.
"Invite him to eat first, and I'll go see him right away!"
When Heimu disappeared, Wu Mao smiled and said, "Your brother is also from the south, right?"
"When his grandparents encountered merchant ships sailing to Nanyang, they took the ship over and didn't want to leave." Li Dan thought about it and said:
"People from Shanda came to me and told me that there was no military discussion. I can't stay any longer. Thank you for the tea, brother, and say goodbye!"
Wu Mao stood up and said goodbye, cupping his hands and saying, "I'm very sorry that I couldn't enjoy myself tonight! I wonder when my dear brother plans to leave?"
Li Dan glanced at him: "Shangrao is urgently waiting for military food supplies. I estimate that we will set off tomorrow." After thinking about it, he said:
"Brother is a great talent. Although he doesn't memorize classics backwards and understand the Five Classics, this miscellaneous study is actually very beneficial to people's livelihood. There is no need to dwell here and feel sorry for yourself.
Brother, why don't you practice under your feet, why do you seek it in statues and green lanterns?
I intend to recruit those Thai and Westerners. If brother is willing, I will send someone to escort brother back to Guangdong to find them.
According to my guess, they have limited resources and are unfamiliar with the place, so they are not doing well.
If they are willing to come, I can at least place them to live in the manor. Wouldn't it be much better than living outside?"
"Do you really want to take them in?"
"Of course!" Li Dan replied affirmatively: "Do you know how much knowledge, strength and courage it takes to sail on the vast sea?
The captain's position is not something anyone can sit on casually.
Besides, I heard from you that this person is still a good person. If he died of starvation in China, it would be a waste of natural resources.
And the monks and the healer... Yusuf, I want to ask them to teach me the knowledge of Tethys and Latin.
Think about it carefully, and if you are willing, let us know when we set off tomorrow morning."
Wu Mao said hello and stood at the door, holding on to the door frame, watching Mao Zaidi use tinder to light a torch made of bundled pine branches to light the road ahead, and he and Li Dan went to the Temple of the Heavenly King one after another.
When he was still far away, Li Dan saw someone in front of him with his head open. "Who is that? Mr. Master Ba?" he asked Mao Zaidi.
"Well, it's him!"
When Mr. Ba saw the torch approaching, he quickly ran a few steps in front of him and lowered his voice and said, "Defense, Zhao Xianfu asked me to come and greet you."
"Something happened?"
"It's not that something happened. Commander-in-Chief Sheng brought news that thousands of thieves have been captured at Fengqi Pass and are attacking. The Commander-in-Chief guarding the gate has sent someone to ask for help."
"Oh, for this?" Li Dan was slightly startled and stopped for a moment, but it didn't show on his face.
"Uh..., he asked me to tell you that several teams have heard that Mr. Sheng and his gang have collected a lot of good stuff from the bandits. What they mean is..."
"Tell Mr. Sheng to spit out some of it, otherwise we won't rescue Fengqiguan, right?" Li Dan looked at Mr. Master Ba.
The latter grinned in embarrassment: "It was all their idea and they had to push it out of me. This really wasn't my idea."
"Okay!" Li Dan interrupted him, stopped and said:
"Go back and tell them: What are we doing here? To transport grain and grass to Shangrao.
If Fengqiguan is lost, we won’t be able to reach Shangrao and we won’t be able to do business, and thousands of bandits will be in front of us all at once. Have you all thought about this clearly?
We are playing one-on-one with You Sanjiang. If it were five-on-one or ten-on-one, would we still be able to fight so smoothly?
Don't be ignorant just now, Xiao Sheng! Go and convey the original words to them, and Sheng Huaien and I will discuss what to do!"
Sheng Huaien was bragging in the main hall, and his voice shook the rafters.
In fact, Gu and Yang had already eaten. The purpose of being here purely to accompany guests was to see if they could drink a few ounces of oil while this guy was happily drinking!
Who knows whether he was deliberately talking about him, or he was determined to brag to the sky tonight. Anyway, he just didn't show the edge of his wealth (purse), which made the two of them scratch their heads and feel helpless.
Seeing Li Dan come in, he quickly excused himself and said he was holding it in and took a pee, and went out before and after.
Seeing them walking away, Sheng Huai'en stopped bragging, put the jar of "Xinghuaxi" on the table, and smiled and shook his finger at Li Dan:
"What you're doing is unreasonable. You sent two boys to trick me, and you didn't even show up!"
"No way, I was chatting with the monk in the back, and I didn't even know when you came."
Li Danjing was busy chatting with Wu Mao and forgot about the evening meal time. When she saw the food on the table, she quickly filled a bowl of rice and took two bites. While eating, she asked:
"So, today's battle was enjoyable, wasn't it? How much did you gain? I'm a little worried. There are more than 600 miles locked outside the east wall. What should I do?"
"Just cut it off!"
"Hush!" Li Dan pointed at the statue of the King of Heaven: "How dare you blatantly talk about killing prisoners here?"
"Uh." Sheng Huai'en hurriedly bowed to the statues, said something like "Don't blame the gods", and then spread his hands:
"What should I do? I still have three hundred here. Oh, it's such a burden. I wouldn't have kept it if I had known!"
"Huh? It's a burden! Then donate all the gold and silver. We happen to be in the temple."
Sheng Huai'en was so speechless that he rolled his eyes and couldn't find the words. Li Dan couldn't help laughing.
"Aren't you a monkey trying to make fun of me?" Sheng Huai'en was also angry and reached out to punch Li Dan in the shoulder.
"But hey, it's been a long time since we had such a fun battle!" In the end, Sheng Huaien couldn't help but say:
"We also received three hundred heads before and after the northern route, and every brother received a share of the reward.
There is money, things, weapons, a dozen mules and oxen, and a dozen carts. How wonderful!