There were a large number of Song merchants gathered in Tianjin Prefecture, and their residences were very close to the core area of Tianjin Prefecture, the high ground dotted with military fortresses and high-ranking official residences.
The reason why they were allowed to build luxurious courtyards nearby was that the imperial court not only wanted to treat distant people well and show friendship, but also had a very simple military consideration, that is, in case of police, the large army bees stationed in the highlands would It surges out and can quickly catch all these unreliable goods.
The merchants of the Song Dynasty were well aware of this. However, it was too easy to make money in Tianjin Prefecture, and the merchants just felt happy and did not miss Shu. Therefore, most of them expressed their gratitude for this kind of treatment, and only occasionally looked at it a little more. Pay attention to the continuous military fortresses entrenched on the highlands.
At this moment, several big merchants discovered that the security inside and outside the fortress seemed to be a little stricter, and the number of officers and soldiers on duty seemed to be slightly more.
"Have any important people arrived in Tianjin?" A man dressed as a businessman asked his companions with a smile, holding his round belly when he was full of wine and food.
The companion was already half drunk, shaking the wine cup in his hand, and said with eyes: "The most important person is Mr. Shi, isn't it you? The one who is more important than Mr. Shi is probably not the emperor of Zhou Dynasty?"
The man laughed loudly, and a group of people around him laughed too.
In the eyes of these Song people, the Zhou emperor was not as dignified as the Zhao Guan family.
Zhao Guan's family has been passed down for so many generations, and he has found several immortal ancestors including Xuanyuan Huangdi, and even went to Mount Tai to become a Buddhist monk. Although he has been traveling south for many years, he still has some special heights in the hearts of ordinary people.
The Guo Guan family of the Great Zhou Dynasty is a bit like a grass-headed king. Except for the backbone of the army, the political power of the Great Zhou Dynasty has very loose control over the local areas. It is not as complete as the Southern Dynasty. Many people in the Song Dynasty feel that the Great Zhou Dynasty is like During the Five Dynasties, Guo Ning was more like a warlord leader than an emperor, and he was more mysterious than sacred. In addition, the people of the Song Dynasty generally had a contemptuous attitude towards the Qiu Ba people. When mentioning this horse-riding emperor, it was inevitable that there would be A bit contemptuous.
These people continued to drink and talk about their business without thinking about it. Not far from the balcony where they were having a banquet, there was a road connecting the highlands to the residential areas of officials and soldiers. At this time, several carriages were rushing past on the road. , followed by a dozen guards on horseback, all of them whipping their whips.
Occasionally, the wheels of the carriage hit small stones on the road, causing them to bounce violently, causing the vehicle body to sway left and right.
The driver hurriedly turned around and asked, "Is there something wrong, madam?"
The official's female family member in the car scolded: "Keep your eyes on the road and speed up!"
"Yes, yes."
The carriage was quite large, and there were several female family members seated in it. Sitting side by side, apart from the hostess of the carriage, were the family members of two other officials. Also sitting with them were a famous local theater master and a man who was said to be a bit miraculous. Female Taoist Priest.
The hostess was talking just now. After the vehicle bumped, she bit her tongue. She was so painful that she burst into tears. But she ignored the pain and stared at her companions. He was so mad that he chopped off his head so many times that he couldn't even count... You didn't know the reason before, but now you understand!"
"Understood! Understood! But our family is all loyal to His Majesty. Even if we are in a hurry, it won't be our turn, hehe."
"If this kind of thing is involved, whoever dares to boast will definitely be fine! The Emperor already knows about the strange thing behind Sanchakou! In addition, the Emperor can also know about Zizhulin, Turtleback Embankment, and Ershilipu by looking at the books.
Not to mention, both the Left and Right Departments and the Recording Department are now conducting strict investigations... Just now, Your Majesty said that Your Majesty will only give you one night! Just one night! You guys, spread the word quickly! Let those damn men wipe their butts.
Wipe your butt, hang yourself if you should! Those bitches think the emperor doesn’t care? Are they going too far now? They will bring bad luck to our ancestors for eighteen generations!"
The hostess was elegantly dressed, but her manner of speaking was very rude, and she was full of obscenities when she was anxious. Many of the wives of the military nobles of the Great Zhou Dynasty were like this.
In the past two years, it is not that there are no officers who have tried to divorce their wives and remarry, but many of their attempts have been thwarted by their wives. This is because most of these wives control the fields or businesses at home, and they also communicate with each other and have their own
There are small circles. Many of them are even best friends with the Queen. They often ask Lu Han to go shopping together, buy a few bags and give each other gifts... Their waists are all as hard as iron rods. Who can move them?
At this time, the ladies got the Queen's instruction, and each of them cheered up, saying, "We only need one night!"
The hostess glanced at her mouth and saw a woman sitting in the corner. She stretched out her hand and said, "Isn't that guy in your family always at odds with Old Hu, the inspector at Sanchakou and Liukou? Go in that direction!"
Go now!"
The woman sitting in the corner had a timid look on her face: "Me? I'm going to? The Hu family man's face is inhuman and fierce, I'm scared!"
The hostess hated the iron and shook her head repeatedly: "That's why I let you go! This is a chance for you to make a good sale. You must be proud of yourself! Go earlier. When Lao Hu sees you in the future, he will have to nod and bow.
!”
The chatter of the women faintly leaked out of the carriage and reached the outside world.
The driver was very smart and immediately used the light of the lantern on the front of the car to signal to the passenger car behind him.
After a while, as expected, a lady got out of the car in front and moved to the car behind.
Immediately, the two convoys separated, and the rear car galloped westward, upstream along Lushui.
After the carriage galloped for a moment, it passed the Sanchakou Pier, which was originally scheduled to be expanded. As the carriage rumbled past, in a hut near the road, several folk bought a few cents of wine and some food, and were gathering together.
Chatting around the fire.
Someone said: "I heard that there are still people harvesting grain in various villages at the moment, and they pay very high prices."
"Before I set off, the old people in the village said that this winter will be very cold, and even a drop of water will turn into ice. The army and the government are eager to stock up on more food, just in case. We work hard, so naturally we want to get more...otherwise
Wouldn’t it be a loss?”
A young man next to him said: "Uncle Zhu, you are right, but it's not bad to take it home based on the commission you set earlier... at least it won't be in vain!"
"Shut up!"
The civil servant known as Uncle Zhu glared at the young man.
The young man continued stubbornly: "No matter how much the commotion was before, it wasn't us who suffered the consequences? If we can't start work, how can we have money? What's more, those who made the commotion would inevitably be punished. Zhang San from the neighboring shop claimed to be an outlaw and ended up dead.
All gone, and your legs..."
Uncle Zhu felt a little regretful in his heart. He knew that what the young man said was right, but for some reason the crowd was so angry at that time that it became more and more chaotic.
Sighing, he reached into the fire with his bare hands and pulled away a few coals.
His hands were covered with thick calluses, like layers of armor, and he could not feel the heat. He quickly took out a dark thing and patted it twice. It turned out to be a steamed bun baked until browned.
"Eat this first. You two have good appetites, so each of you can take half."
He put the steamed bun into the boy's hand, then bowed and pulled the iron catalpa.
This iron catalpa was distributed by the government officials after they came to Tianjin to work. The large catalpa surface was made of high-quality iron. Therefore, the people used it to dig soil and transport sand, and also used it to deal with the occasional accidents in the river beach.
The little beast escaped. Now, Uncle Zhu is using him as a kitchen utensil.
He is very strong and his hands are very steady, but when he moves, his upper body tends to shake and his legs are obviously weak. Everyone around him knows that he had a dispute with the officials two months ago and wanted to get more benefits from everyone.
At that time, he was beaten so violently by the wolf-like patrol inspectors that his calf was broken, and he still can't get up.
Because the young man mentioned this matter, the people around the fire were a little frustrated. Of course, some people were lucky, because every time the inspection department intervened, it would inevitably lead to a bigger conflict in the end.
Compared with the casualties caused by the soldiers, Mr. Zhu only had two broken legs, so he was lucky.
Not far away from the hut, there was suddenly the sound of heavy footsteps. Someone came closer and coughed softly: "Is Mr. Zhu here? I am the local inspection officer Hu Zhonggui, and I would like to invite him to come out and have a chat."
Local inspections? These are a bunch of tough people! In the last few times we have dealt with them, they kept talking about the rules under the emperor's feet. They simply didn't treat the people as human beings. They just treated them like vegetables that were beaten and thrown around on the ground.
!
The people in several thatched huts nearby were in a panic, and no one responded for a while.
The speaker was not angry at all, and strode into the shack where Mr. Zhu was.
Under the light of the fire, there was actually a smile on his hideous face: "Why do you eat such pickled things! Eat mine! I brought meat! And good wine!"
Hu Zhonggui spoke in a loud and rough voice, a bit deliberately to show his kindness. The servants in the shed were all frightened. Who dared to eat his meat and wine? The young man who complained earlier was the cleverest and murmured: "I peed my pants."
Now, I want to go out..."
Everyone around him quickly followed suit and dispersed.
When they rushed outside, everyone was worried and hovered nearby, peering through the doors and windows of the shack. They felt that Hu Zhonggui's face was becoming more and more terrifying.