The rain gradually became heavier. Yang Shiqing speeded up his horse. About two miles away, a wine shed appeared in front of him. It was made of bamboo wood and oil tiles. The shed was huge and could accommodate more than a hundred people. There were twenty people under the shed.
There were several couches filled with tourists taking shelter from the rain, and there was also a side shed to house the horses.
The group of people who had just asked for directions walked out of the wine tent under the guidance of two waiters. Yang Yuanqing saw that the wine tent was almost full and was about to leave when the waiter standing under the wine tent waved to him enthusiastically. "This young man
, there are still two seats, come in and have a bowl of hot soup and something to eat before leaving."
Yang Yuanqing hesitated for a moment, and then the man ran up and took out his horse and said with a smile: "Sir, we are the only family ten miles away. It's raining so hard. Come in and take shelter!"
Seeing that the man was very enthusiastic, Yang Yuanqing got off his horse, threw the reins to him, and said, "Feed the horse well with good fine materials."
He casually took out three coins from his horse bag to reward him. The man took the reward and left happily. Yang Yuanqing scanned the wine shed and found that there were indeed two empty seats in the northeast corner. It was the middle-aged man who asked for directions just now.
, a group of them sat on two couches, but their hostess was not present. She should be in the carriage. The carriage was parked right next to it. Men and women were mixed in the wine shed, and life was noisy. The woman in the carriage was probably a wealthy family.
The young lady of the house refused to come in and sit with her.
"Brother, please sit down here!"
The middle-aged butler recognized him and warmly greeted him to sit down. Several attendants squeezed aside to make way for a vacant seat.
"Then I'll punish you all!"
Yang Yuanqing was not polite, sat on the wooden handle, put the leather bag, long spear and bow and arrow beside him, and smiled and bowed his hands to the middle-aged man and the surrounding entourage.
In fact, middle-aged men also look at people and speak. Generally speaking, in the Sui Dynasty, there was still a rule that scholars and common people were not seated at the same table. The middle-aged man was just a housekeeper, and the attendants next to him were just servants, with a slightly lower status. If Yang Yuanqing was wearing a brocade robe.
Wearing a golden crown, that middle-aged man would never be so presumptuous as to invite Yang Yazhuo to sit with them at the same table. If Yang Yuanqing was of noble status, it would be extremely rude to Yihe.
But when he saw that Yang Yuanqing was wearing a blue cloth robe, a plain scarf, and a leather belt around his waist. There were no decorations on the leather belt to identify his identity, he immediately judged that Yang Yuanqing was just a commoner, and there was no problem in sitting with them.
.
Yang Yabo sat down. It was the time to hit the bull. He was also a little hungry, so the waiter smiled and waved, "Here are three kilograms of soy sauce mutton, three biscuits, and a bottle of wine."
"Okay! Guest, sit down for a moment." The waiter shouted and ran to the back to get ready.
The middle-aged butler picked up the jug and poured a glass of wine for Yang Yuanqing, and asked with a smile: "The accent sounds like this guy is from Beijing! What's your surname?"
Yang Yuanqing quickly clasped his hands and thanked him: "I am from the capital, so my surname is Yang."
He also smiled and asked: "Is this uncle from Jiangpai or Puzhou?"
"We are from Wenxi, Jiangzhou, escorting my young lady to Beijing."
When Yang Yuanqing heard that they were Wenxi people, his first reaction was that the Wenxi Pei clan was the head of the eight major noble clans in the world. Could it be that they were the same?
Although he thought this way, he did not dare to be rash. Yang Yaqing smiled and said: "Wenxi is a great place! Isn't Guan Yu, an outstanding person, a native of Wenxi?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a chuckle came from the carriage, "Chi!", and Yang Yuanqing realized it. He immediately blushed and said quickly: "I was confused. Guan Yunchang is from Puzhou Jieliang, not Wenxi."
He couldn't help but look back. He heard a chuckle just now. The voice was very soft. She should be a young woman. The housekeeper smiled and said: "My great-grandfather is an official in Beijing. This time we are sending the young lady to Beijing."
Several followers nearby were paying attention to Yang Yuanqing's Ma Shan. They were all martial arts practitioners and had some experience. Although Yang Yuanqing covered the blade with a leather bag, they could still roughly guess that Ma Shan's unique shaft was in their eyes.
They all had a look of surprise and envy, they had never seen such a long horse.
"Great!"
Someone behind him sighed in admiration, Yang Ya. When Qing turned around, he saw five or six men sitting on the wooden couch behind him. They were all tall, strong, brave and strong, and they all had long weapons beside them.
Although Yang Jian issued a ban on weapons in the 17th year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign, which prohibited civilians from owning long weapons, in fact his ban had little effect and only restricted the sale of weapons. The Sui Dynasty was known as Southern Wen and Bei Wu.
The martial arts was strong, and there were many descendants of military generals, nobles and common people, as well as people practicing martial arts. In fact, Yang Jian's ban on martial arts existed in name only.
When Yang Yuanqing entered the wine shed, he also discovered that many of the people in the wine shed were martial arts practitioners with bows and arrows. The man behind him was about twenty years old, with a big body and a round waist, red hair, thick eyebrows and tiger eyes, and an extraordinary appearance.
He also carries a long spear, which is a Zaoyang gold nailed spear. The head of the spear is a date-shaped iron hammer, densely covered with six rows of gold-plated two-inch nails. The hammer weighs about seventy or eighty. It can be seen that this big man is also
A person with great martial arts skills.
Yang Yuanqing raised his glass to show him that the young man was a generous man. He raised his glass in return and said with a smile: "I am Xiongxin, a native of Shangdang County, Luzhou. I have loved horses since I was a child. What should I call this young man?"
Yang Yuanqing took a closer look at him, and it turned out that he was the red-haired spiritual officer Shan Xiongxin. As expected, he had an extraordinary appearance. The person next to him looked quite similar to Shan Xiongxin, and he was probably his brother Shan Xiongzhong.
Yang Yuanqing also raised his glass happily and said: "My Excellency Yang Yuanqing, a native of the capital, has long admired the names of the two heroes of the Shan family of Erxianzhuang. I would like to propose a toast to my two brothers."
He announced his name, and the people at another table not far away said "Hey!" and looked at Yang Yuanqing. When Yang Shiqing said it, he found that the people at the table looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where they met at the moment.
I was surprised to hear that he signed up. This group of people obviously knew about him.
Yang Yuanqing still couldn't remember who this group of people were, so he had to put it down for the time being, and smiled at the Shan Xiongxin brothers behind him: "Why did the two Shan brothers think of coming to the capital?"
Brothers Shan Xiongxin helped the poor and weak in Shangdang County. They specialized in fighting injustices and liked to make friends with heroes from all over the world. In Shangdang County and even Luzhou, when it comes to the two brothers of the Erxianzhuang Shan family, everyone knows about them. But here is
The capital city is at the foot of the Emperor, where dragons and tigers hide, and when Brother Shan Xiongxin saw that this little brother actually knew about their reputation, they couldn't help but feel very fond of him.
Shan Xiongxin said with a smile: "Brother Yang, why don't you come and sit here."
Of course, chatting with Shan Xiongxin was much more interesting than the unknown butler opposite. Yang Yaqing smiled apologetically at the butler and sat down at Shan Xiongxin's table.
There were five or six people at Shan Xiongxin's table. In addition to the Shan brothers, there were several big men who practiced martial arts. Shan Xiongxin introduced them one by one to Yang Yuanqing, "These are all Luzhou heroes. This is my eldest brother Shan Xiongzhong.
"Shan Renjie is my brother, this is Xu Chongshan, and this is Martin Yuan. The three of them are known as the Three Tigers of the Shangdang, and they are all bold and forthright men."
Shan Xiongxin is only the elder, but Shan Xiongzhong is a man of both civil and military skills. Although he is also very generous, he is more careful than his brothers. The two brothers are powerful in Luzhou and have a lot of wealth, so his brother Shan Xiong can be trusted.
Although the young man opposite was dressed simply, he had a calm and unhurried temperament in his movements. More importantly, his horse hair was longer and thicker than ordinary horse hair, and was worth at least ten thousand gold. Shan Xiongzhong felt that
This young man must be no ordinary person.
"This young master should also come from a famous family!" Shan Xiongzhong asked with a tentative smile.
At this time, a big man next to him raised his glass and walked up to Lucky. He laughed and said: "You don't even know about Yang Ya Qing. Then you are really ignorant. You should have heard about the war against the Turks five years ago!"
Shan Xiong was suddenly moved. He stared at Yang Yuanqing, "So the little brother is the famous Yinshan flying general Yang Yuanqing?"
For the first time, Yang Yuanqing knew that he actually had the nickname "Yinshan Flying General," but this was an introduction. He liked the nickname "But the Dragon City Flying General is not called Hu Ma crossing the Yinshan Mountain."
Yang Yuanqing raised his glass and smiled slightly, "I'm just an ordinary frontier soldier. I can't afford to be a flying general. Brother Shan is overrated."
He stood up again and smiled at the big man who revealed his identity: "I seem to have seen my dear friend somewhere. Please forgive me for my blindness, but I really can't remember."
The big man narrowed his eyes and smiled in a rather sinister manner, "Brother Yang, have you forgotten? We had a close encounter at the Renshou Palace Station."
Yang Yuanqing suddenly remembered that this person was one of the four personal bodyguards of King Yang Lai of Yuzhang. At that time, it gave people the impression that these four people were of great importance. Yang Yuanqing looked at the table next to him, and there was another man in his thirties.
The scholar in green clothes seems to be someone close to Yang Lai, and the others are all dressed in sanitary attire.
"I remembered."
Yang Yuanqing smiled happily and said: "We have met before, but this dear friend has a distinguished name. Can you give me some advice?"
"In the capital of Xialiang, I am from Xiazhou, and my nickname is not worth mentioning."
"It turns out to be Brother Liang, come here! I'll give you a toast."
Shan Xiongxin raised his glass to toast Master Liang, but Master Liang ignored him. He only raised his glass to Yang Yuanqing and turned around to leave. Shan Xiongxin froze his hands in the air and his face turned red. After a while, he recalled
Huan snorted and sat down, his eyes extremely annoyed.
Yang Yuanqing lowered his voice and said to him: "They are the subordinates of King Yang Lai of Yuzhang. It is best not to make friends with them."
The Shan brothers looked at each other, and both of them were wary. When they came, they knew that there were hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the capital, so they should not be too careless. However, Shan Xiongxin was bold and easy to make friends, and it was hard to change his character for a while. Unexpectedly, just in Ba
Then he met people from the royal family's mansion. As expected, the capital city was in deep water, which made him secretly scream with shame.
However, Shan Xiongxin had a very good impression of Yang Yuanqing. He turned out to be Flying General Yin Shan. He must make friends with this kind of frontier hero. Shan Xiongxin ignored Liang Shidu and others and smiled at Yang Yuanqing: "General Yang
After returning from the frontier, could it be that he also wanted to participate in the selection of generals and talents?
Yang Yuanqing was stunned. He had never heard of selecting generals and selecting talents. Yang Yuanqing shook his head, "I came back to visit relatives and I had never heard of selecting generals and selecting talents. What's going on?"
"It turns out that Yang Xiandi didn't know about it, but it's no wonder. Yang Xiandi is already a border general and there is no need to ask for this and fame."
Shan Xiongxin explained with a smile: "The sage passed down the decree to the world and selected generals from all over the world. They will be tested in the capital. Those with strong martial arts skills can be awarded military positions. If someone hears about it, we also want to go to the capital to try our luck."
Only then did Yang Yuanqing suddenly understand, and he secretly thought, "It is estimated that Yang Guang is preparing for the imperial examination, and he will test it with the martial arts examination first."
Yang Yuanqing asked again: "Does Brother Shan know how to select generals and talents?"
Shan Xiongxin scratched his head, "Hey, the details are not very clear. I heard that the main test is to test the cavalry, and there are some other tricks. You will know it when you go to Beijing."
"This strong man!"
A waiter at the back called Shan Xiongxin anxiously, "Is that your horse outside?"