This place is called Chuanyunyi, and it is at least fifty miles away from the nearest county seat. Not far from here is Chuanyun Valley. After passing Chuanyun Valley, we have to walk another forty miles to reach Qianwei County.
Li Er, the postman at the door, saw the caravan from a distance, turned his head and shouted at the door: "Prince, we have business!"
In the eyes of these postmen, the post station is no longer an institution specially set up by the government, but an inn jointly opened by them. What they welcome most is the caravans coming from the south to the north. There is no village in front and no store in the back.
Post stations are the only choice for these caravans to stay. In fact, not only in Yizhou, but also in Jingzhou, inns will also accommodate caravans. The difference is that the money earned from staying in Jingzhou’s inns must be handed over to the government, while in Yizhou
The income from the caravans staying at these post stations will be divided among the postmen privately.
The person who is called "Wang Tou'er" is Chuanyunyi's Yicheng. Don't underestimate this Yicheng. This is a lucrative position. Because of Chuanyunyi's special geographical location, his annual income is less than that of the county magistrate.
Just a lot more. In Wang Yicheng's eyes, the caravans going north and south were his parents who provided food and clothing. After hearing Li Er's shout, he hurriedly walked out of the door, put up an awning and looked into the distance.
The caravan was getting closer and closer, and he could already clearly see the faces of the people on the opposite side. Wang Yichen breathed a sigh of relief and said to Li Er: "Tell everyone to tidy up the room and prepare some food and drinks. It's an old customer here."
The so-called regular patrons are those who often come and go on this road. Wang Yicheng likes to receive these people the most. They are used to this road and are familiar with the rules of the inn. They naturally know what to do without you having to waste words.
Checkout. In fact, the caravan that came today is not a very old customer. They only appeared on this road in the past two months. However, they are generous and never bargain. The postmen all like these people.
personal.
The caravan soon arrived at the door of the inn. The leader jumped off his horse and walked quickly to Wang Yicheng. He handed him a piece of silver and said, "Boss Wang, follow the old rules and use the best guest rooms.
Arrange three rooms for us."
Wang Yichen looked behind him. As usual, this caravan was composed of twelve people, with four people in each room, exactly three rooms. He basically knew everyone in the caravan, even if he couldn't name them
His name was somewhat familiar. When some people saw him, they said "Hello, Mr. Wang, hello, Mr. Wang" and greeted him very warmly.
In the past, Wang Yicheng would have welcomed them into the inn very enthusiastically, but today, he said with a troubled expression: "Oh, Mr. Zhao, I'm really sorry. I didn't know you were coming today.
A group of merchants came in first, let them occupy the upper room, how about you just make do with it?"
Shopkeeper Zhao's face changed, and he said in a deep voice: "Boss Wang, we have an old relationship, and I have never given you less money. You can't hide it and deny us a room. If you don't sleep well tonight,
, I can’t make it on my way tomorrow.”
Wang Yicheng said with a smile on his face: "Shopkeeper Zhao, what is our relationship? How can I lie to you? There is indeed a group of guests who have arrived today. Otherwise, you will know when you enter the station. Today
Let’s make do with it for now, I’ll have a few drinks with you tonight.”
Shopkeeper Zhao then changed his smile and said, "Okay, I'll trust you for once. I'll treat you to drinks in the evening, but you have to take care of these animals for me."
"You don't need to tell me, that's what you should do." Wang Yicheng turned to face the inn and shouted, "Brothers, come out and help shopkeeper Zhao unload the goods and lead the animals! Shopkeeper Zhao will treat everyone to a drink tonight!"
In addition to Wang Yicheng and Li Er, there are seven postmen in Chuanyunyi. When they heard that shopkeeper Zhao was inviting them to drink in the evening, they all immediately became energetic.
The people who brought the boxes worked harder than Shopkeeper Zhao himself.
Shopkeeper Zhao glared at Wang Yichen angrily and said, "I only promised to treat you to a drink. When did I treat you to a drink? You, you just want to find ways to make money from me."
Wang Yicheng was secretly proud of himself. Not only did he have food and drink tonight, but he also made a lot of money from the food and wine. Faced with Shopkeeper Zhao's eyes, he was naturally not angry at all. He laughed and said: "Who are you, Shopkeeper Zhao?"
, even if you pluck out a single hair, your waist is thicker than ours. If I eat you a meal, it will help you accumulate virtue and do good deeds."
Shopkeeper Zhao patted Wang Yicheng on the shoulder, laughed, and said: "Boss Wang, you have such a mouth, even if you are dead, I still want you to talk about life. Come on, stop talking nonsense, everyone hurry up and get to work. It won't be long."
Drunk to no end!”
At night, the lights in Chuanyunyi are brightly lit. The hall is a place for dining. Tables and chairs are not yet popular in Yizhou, so everyone sits on the floor. Although they eat in the same hall, their treatment is very different. Wang Yicheng and Zhao
The two groups of shopkeepers had the tables in front of them filled with good wine and meat. The caravan that came first, with six or seven people, had only porridge and pickles on the tables in front of them.
In fact, another caravan often walked through Chuanyunyi, but the leader, shopkeeper Ma, was extremely stingy and always had to bargain for a long time every time, so Wang Yicheng did not classify them as regular customers. Today's dinner,
Wang Yicheng brought out all the good wine and food that had been served to the passing officials in the inn, just to make Shopkeeper Ma face-to-face. What's more, the wool comes from the sheep. Shopkeeper Zhao pays for it anyway, so the better the food, the more expensive it will be.
, the more he earns.
After three rounds of drinking here, the porridge from Shopkeeper Ma's place started to be served. Shopkeeper Ma's waiters were all very angry, but when they saw the big bowls of wine and meat on the opposite side, they all became greedy again.
Shopkeeper Zhao took a sip of wine, pursed his lips, and turned to Wang Yicheng and said: "Touch Wang, as the saying goes, you rely on your parents at home and your friends when you go out. We go out all year round, and we have many friends and many ways to go.
You see, Shopkeeper Ma's dinner is a bit too shabby, so if I serve them some good wine and food, the money will be mine."
Wang Yicheng wanted to embarrass Shopkeeper Ma today, so he even served the porridge slowly and asked him to wait there while watching these people like him eating and drinking and swallowing their saliva. Shopkeeper Zhao said that he wanted to
Wang Yicheng was originally not happy to serve them good wine and good food, but when he heard that shopkeeper Zhao would pay for it, a smile appeared on his face again. He would be a fool not to make money if he had money! It was delivered to his door.
How can we not do business?
However, Wang Yicheng still played a trick and sent the wine to Shopkeeper Ma and others with water in it. Even so, Shopkeeper Ma and a group of waiters thanked him profusely and offered him a treat as long as it didn't cost him money.
He had no objection to drinking horse urine.
There was no conversation all night. In the early morning of the next morning, Shopkeeper Ma and the others packed up their things and continued on their way. When they arrived at the door of the inn, they saw Li Er leaning listlessly against the wall.
Shopkeeper Ma asked: "Brother Li, what's wrong with you?"
Li Er didn't even raise his eyelids, and said in a hoarse voice: "I didn't go to bed until midnight yesterday after drinking. I haven't woken up yet, and you have to be on your way. I don't want you to make a noise."
Shopkeeper Ma stretched his head and looked inside, then asked: "I wonder if Shopkeeper Zhao and the others are up yet. I want to go in and say thank you."
Li Er said angrily: "You think everyone is like you, trying to get money, and you won't let anyone sleep peacefully. Shopkeeper Zhao is still asleep at the moment."
When Shopkeeper Ma heard this, he got what he wanted. It was better that he didn't get up, so as not to have to nod and bow again, he quickly called to the guys: "Everyone, hurry up. Let's hit the road! Let's hit the road!"
Looking at the retreating figures of Shopkeeper Ma and his entourage, Li Er, who had been sluggish all this time, suddenly opened his eyes and shot out two rays of light, completely different from the previous one.
Inside the post station, a postman walked up to Wang Yicheng, who was in the hall with his eyes closed to rest, stretched out his hand and made a cutting gesture on his neck, and asked in a low voice: "Boss Zhao, why don't you send Shopkeeper Ma and the others..."
Wang Yicheng's face darkened and he said: "Have you forgotten what my lord said? You are killing innocent people indiscriminately. Do you want to go to a military court?"
At a glance, this man's appearance was the same as that of Wang Yicheng, but his voice was clearly that of shopkeeper Zhao. It turned out that in just one night, the Yicheng and the postmen in Chuanyunyi had been replaced by different people.
At noon, a fast horse galloped straight towards Chuanyun Post. When they arrived at the gate of the post, the soldier on the horse jumped down, threw the reins into the hands of "Li Er", and said: "The military situation of eight hundred miles away is extremely urgent. Hurry and prepare."
horse!"
"Li Er" agreed and took the horse, stretched out his hand to say "please", and said, "Brother, go ahead and drink some water to moisten your throat. You'll be fine soon."
After hearing what he said, the soldier felt a little thirsty and walked into the post station. A postman had already brought a bowl of cold water. The soldier took the water and drank it in one gulp, and was about to urge him to prepare his horse quickly.
But he felt like the world was spinning and he fell to the ground with a "plop".
"Wang Yicheng" didn't even look at him and said coldly: "Drag him behind and kill him!"
This soldier came from Zizhong County, and he became an unjust ghost. Liu Yan attached great importance to farming and mulberry. Compared with other states and counties, the life of farmers in Yizhou was relatively easier, so they were extraordinarily hard-working. There are people in Zizhong County
The farmers who got up early found a large group of people coming from a distance and hurriedly reported it to the district chief. The district leader hurried to the county and reported to Zhang Qin, the magistrate of Zizhong County. Zhang Qin didn't know where these people came from, so he had to look aside.
He hurriedly ordered the city gate that had just been opened to be closed quickly, and at the same time dispatched fast horses to report the emergency to the county. However, little did he know that his emergency documents would never reach Qianwei County.
The team did not have any banners, nor did they attack Zizhong County. They just walked past the county seat very calmly, and even the crops in the fields were not trampled at all. Zhang Qin stood on the tower and watched the troops rolling north.
Chen Yan was confused and didn't know who this team was.
Seeing this team going further and further away, Zhang Qin relaxed and ordered the city gate to be opened again, while he rushed back to the county government office to catch up on his sleep. Right here, the south side of the county seat suddenly and quietly came again.