Before Hou Zhongxin could react, Yu Xing came up and took the roast chicken away.
He pulled off the chicken's butt and one thigh: "Master, here it is!"
The fat man leaned out from the side of the boat and grabbed half of the chicken in his long thick arms.
"Master, do you want a drink?" Yu Xing asked again.
"And wine?"
The fat man's eyes lit up like copper bells, and he turned to several people on the shore. He sat down on the side of the boat with a golden sword, and stretched out his other arm, and clasped a man who was being hugged by his attendants with his palm like a leaf fan.
Liquor jar.
"Drink less and you won't get into trouble!"
The sound of water flowed, and the boat continued to move forward. The voice of the fat man came from the boat, and the figure disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Many strong men in the rear threw away their ropes and came together to share drinks and dry food.
Hou Zhongxin glared hard at the attendant responsible for holding the wine jar.
The attendant's face was full of bitterness. He had reacted just now and tried to hug the wine jar. But the fat man's hands were very strong, and he still carried the wine jar lightly.
Because there are so many people in Lin'an and so many drinkers, the major restaurants brew a wide variety of famous wines. Even every company and residence has its own brewing workshop, and wines sent from other states are also sold locally. This is
The two large jars of wine were gifted by Ding Zan. It is said that they were produced by the wine shop under the Dianqian Division, called Fengquan. One jar contained three liters of wine, about ten kilograms, and was worth a lot of money.
I originally thought that two jars of wine would be enough for two hundred strong men to drink one cup each, but unexpectedly a strange man came out and robbed half of the wine and meat. Wouldn't those strong men start a riot?
How about asking Scholar Ding for another jar?
Just as he was thinking this, the young men gathered around him noisily. Someone frowned and asked, "Hey, didn't you just see two jars of wine? How can this be enough?"
Hou Zhongxin was about to explain when Yu Xing shouted: "I gave the master a jar! The master asked us to drink less!"
The frowned brow of the person who spoke before immediately calmed down, and he nodded together with the other men, like a chicken pecking at rice: "Yes, yes, I should give the master a jar. What the master said makes sense. I have something to do, so I should be less careful."
Drink some."
Everyone thanked Hou Zhongxin and divided into small groups. They took the reward money from Hou Zhongxin.
Hou Zhongxin called Yu Xing and Yu Man'er over: "You two, who is that master? Why is he on our ship?"
Yu Xing was confused: "Isn't this our gun-stick instructor?"
Yu Maner said confidently: "This is the great monk of the temple in our village!"
The two of them finished speaking at the same time and looked at each other.
Yu Xing explained: "He was originally a great monk in the temple, and later became a spear and stick instructor."
Yu Man'er also said: "He was a gun and stick instructor in his early years. Later he became a monk in the village temple and became a monk."
The two looked at each other again and quickly said to Hou Zhongxin: "In short, he is a teacher and a great monk. Well, sir, have you forgotten? He boarded the ship at Chengshan Port in Ninghai Prefecture, you know it!"
"I see."
Hou Zhongxin agreed, but he always felt that something was wrong.
Something's wrong! Something's wrong!
This fat man was indeed on board the ship at Chengshan Port in Ninghai Prefecture, but didn’t Yu Maner and Yu Xing get on the ship at Wandu Village in Haizhou Prefecture? The two places were hundreds of miles apart, so how could they get on board?
Does it matter? Judging from the state of the young men, they seem to still admire this huge man!
There must be a ghost!
Hou Zhongxin was about to detain the two men for detailed interrogation. In front of the road along the river, a knight holding a pine torch rolled back like a fiery dragon.
It turned out that Hou Zhongxin was recruiting strong men to share the food, and several relatively heavy-laden ships stopped. Wanyan Liao led the cavalry to clear the way, and suddenly found that most of the ships behind him were missing, so he quickly sent people back to urge them.
"Hurry! Don't stop!" These Yi army knights were whipping their whips and shouting to urge the boat.
Among the strong men, many of them had practiced martial arts, and their skills were obviously good, but they were all good-tempered. No one argued with the cavalry, and they immediately dispersed and went to stretch again.
However, the Yi army cavalry was whipped and their hands slipped, and they clashed with the 60 soldiers of the Song Dynasty who were listed in the mission. Hou Zhongxin rushed to deal with them, and he struggled all night and was so tired that he was dizzy.
In the next few days, Hou Zhongxin did not stop.
Under the urging of the Jurchens, the fleet traveled day and night, entered the lock from Tongzhou, and rushed to the capital. To the east of Tongzhou, there were often terrifying sounds of fighting, and there were thousands of refugees walking like rotten trees in the wilderness.
, the tragedy is shocking.
When the fleet arrived in Tongzhou, a group of pick-up companions sent by Daijin arrived. According to the custom of previous years, a chamberlain brought the emperor's edict and ordered a certain minister from the Song Dynasty to come from a distance to hold a commemorative coin to celebrate his birthday. Chihua showed his kindness.
Lao Yunyun. In addition, all the supplies given to the envoys for three periods of time were also distributed, which made the envoys very happy.
Only one of the Jurchen escorts suggested that the Song delegation had two hundred more men than in previous years, and there was no list of names, which was very disrespectful.
Hou Zhongxin didn't say anything yet. Ding Yan immediately said, all the Caodinggang households along the Lushui River in your country have been dispersed, and we are helpless; as for the strong winds and high waves on the sea, it is even more troublesome.
If you can ensure the safety of the road, let alone Lushui, we will immediately send off the people when we return and take the old road agreed upon by the two countries, first to Zhending and then to Bianliang, but I don't know if the Jin court is sure.
The pick-up and drop-off envoy was disappointed and asked no more questions. The waterway from Tongzhou to Zhongdu was still inseparable from the young men recruited by Hou Zhongxin, and the young men still worked hard.
Under such a situation, Hou Zhongxin could only persuade himself not to cause trouble.
Since ancient times, the water has been extremely clear and has no fish. The country of Jin is in such chaos that there are deserters everywhere. These strong men have also admitted that they were all serving in the army of Jin, and maybe they are all deserters.
If they were thieves and bandits who robbed homes and houses, why would they have worked hard all the way to follow the mission here? All they want is a little money! What else can they get? There is no need to be picky when employing people!
In late January, the Song delegation finally entered Zhongdu.
Although we are always on alert for war and have fought several fierce battles, there are still many people coming in and out of the city gate. Under this situation, food, horse feed and firewood are all urgently needed supplies in the city.
The imperial court also always encouraged people to go out, either to gather some wild wheat, dig some wild potatoes, wild fruits, or cut some firewood and come back.
The ragged people lined up in a long line, supervised by soldiers, who ordered them to gather outside the city and hand over 30% of what they earned as city gate tax.
Occasionally, some people were really reluctant to part with the fruits of a hard day's work, crying and shouting and unwilling to hand over what they had gained, so the soldiers rushed over and used riding whips and scabbards to achieve a satisfactory result.
People entering the city were easily robbed in the square inside Xuanyao Gate.
Most of the people gathered in that area were refugees who had recently fled from outside the city. They were too frightened to leave the city to look for food. The government offices in Chengli rarely distributed food, so the desperate refugees were always under the threat of starving to death.
, often beating and robbing each other with the people in the city.
Du Shisheng was in a restaurant and looked around casually.
In just two glances, there was already four or five commotions in the square.
At this time, the envoys of the Song Dynasty changed their carriages outside the city. The convoy and its entourage were struggling to move forward among the noisy crowds like headless flies. Despite the cavalry of the Qian army shouting repeatedly, every two steps forward must take one step back. There were also refugees.
Being too bold, they even tried to climb onto the carriage and look through the goods in the carriage to find something to eat. The cavalry was not polite to them, and immediately dragged them to the ground and trampled them to death.
The restaurant where Du Shisheng worked was located in the Tongmafang in the east of the city. It was named after the horse "Zhebai" owned by Emperor Murong Xin of the Yan Kingdom. There were many nobles and wealthy businessmen in the Tongmafang, so naturally they would not be disturbed.
So Du Shisheng only glanced at it twice. When the motorcade passed under the restaurant and meandered towards the Huitong Pavilion area, he stopped looking at it and poured himself a large glass of wine and drank it.
On a cold day, the mellow aroma of the wine and the burning sensation after taking the drink are enough to dispel the cold inside the body, making people feel extremely happy both mentally and physically.
He raised his glass and said half-jokingly to the waiters at the next table: "The Changchun Festival envoys from the Song Dynasty are here. Entering Zhongdu at this time is a hard job, right? Haha, you guys have been working all day
Following me here is also a hard job!"
Du Shisheng had always lived a comfortable life in Zhongdu. However, after the emperor heard that Ding Haijun intended to send troops to Beijing, he immediately sent a few followers out. On the one hand, he asked them to follow Du Shisheng closely and never allow him to do anything.
action. On the other hand, he specifically warned him not to hurt this old scholar's life and to ensure his safety.
After hearing what Du Shisheng said, several Xiaodi could only smile bitterly.