Fu Song

Chapter 754

Xiao Cheng reined in his horse and stood up. The Donghua Gate, which was once extremely magnificent, is now so dilapidated.

The original gate tower of the carved railings and paintings disappeared, leaving only some charred pillars that had not been burned out, standing in the white snow, which was particularly dazzling.

This city wall is still relatively complete, but if you look at the two sides, you can see that there is either a section missing here, or a section collapsed there.

The city gates are gone.

Looking up to the left, there is a large area over there. It used to be a very prosperous canal wharf. Bent down under the weight of snow.

Back then, whether it was spring, summer, autumn, winter or day or night, this place was always full of traffic and bright lights. Xiao Cheng still clearly remembered that there was a huge market not far from the pier, and some people from all over Everything new is for sale here.

Liu Xin is from the south, and has never been to Tokyo City. For him, Tokyo City is the holy place in his mind when he was young. He studies hard, takes the examination of talents, raises people, and then enters Beijing as a scholar, and goes to the temple to pay homage to the emperor. his ultimate dream.

But before he could complete this feat, Da Song collapsed.

Fortunately, Xin Song has stood up again in Jiangning.

He was a Jinshi in one fell swoop when the Xin Song Dynasty held the first examination in Jiangning.

Now, he finally saw the Tokyo city he had dreamed of.

The dilapidation of Tokyo City was far beyond his imagination.

But it was precisely because of this that he was even more shocked.

The broken walls of a dilapidated Tokyo city can also allow him to outline the general shape of the past in his mind.

How spectacular is a big city with a population of one million!

Jiangning is now the most prosperous city in the south, because it is also the political center of the south because the capital is there, but even so, Jiangning City only has a population of over 20 people, which is still counted as the surrounding towns and villages.

With only one-fifth of the population of Tokyo City, Liu Xin felt the magnificence of the city, the crowded crowd, and of course, the purse that made him feel anxious.

The salaries of officials in the Song Dynasty were not low.

It's just that Liu Xin's family has a heavy burden, and he is a person who wants to go higher, and he is also a person who works under the eyes of the chief assistant. For him, this is not worth the candle.

But because of this, he couldn't even afford to rent a small courtyard in the center of Jiangning City, so he could only rent in a small farmyard outside the city, and had to ride a donkey to the city before dawn.

This is the case in Jiangning, and the city of Tokyo with a population of one million can be imagined.

Living in the capital is not easy,
That's probably it.

Liu Xin was shocked.

Xiao Cheng was very sad.

Before the age of 16, he went to Qianzhou to work. In a blink of an eye, it has been more than 20 years.

He was still a teenager when he left, but when he came back, there were already white strands in his hair and wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

It's ridiculous to think about the ambitions and plans of the year.

I never dreamed that it would take more than 20 years to go there.

The vicissitudes of life are really unbearable.

Riding the horse slowly into the city, there were originally several merchants in the city, where half a complete house can be seen now?
Outside the Donghua Gate, it was originally the most affluent area. If you think about it, it must have been the most severely damaged area over the years.

Li Tang knelt in the snow, exchanging tears.

He took out a bundle of incense from the package, took out three sticks from it, lit it with a torch, and stuck it in the snow.

"Grandfather, mother, elder brother, sister-in-law, Li Tang is back, Li Tang has burnt incense for you, and burned paper money for you, come and take it away, I actually burned it for you every year these years, but I don't know if you got it!" Li Tang said with a sob while wiping away his tears.

After the news of the recovery of Tokyo City reached Jiangning, Li Tang, who rented a small store in Jiangning to sell groceries, immediately emptied his goods at a very low price, and then returned home all the way with the parcel on his back.

The relatives are gone, and the home is gone. The place where the original home is, there are only such ruins like a tomb bag and some ruins.

"Brother, do you have any extra incense and paper money? You bought it there, and there is no place around here that can buy these things!" A voice came from beside him, it was a middle-aged man, holding two children. "I live here too, I just came back."

"The incense and paper money are gone!" Li Tang took out three sticks of incense and handed them to the middle-aged man.

"how much is it?"

"They are all degenerates from Tianya, and they finally returned home today, what money do they want?" Li Tang asked.

"Thank you brother, we will take care of each other in the future!" The man said with a wry smile, "It used to be so prosperous here, but now, where are there any people? Brother, are you still planning to settle down here in the future?"

"That's natural!" Li Tang nodded.

While talking, some people came from the surrounding area, basically they all came to pay homage to the deceased relatives, without exception, these people also came back from other places.

Li Tang's bundle of incense was quickly distributed, and there were quite a few cigarettes curling up in this area.

At that time, most of the Donghuamen area were engaged in business.
Almost every household has people out there. When Tokyo was besieged and the city was destroyed, this area had the most people who could escape. Now that the catastrophe is over, the number of people returning home is also the most.

When Xiao Cheng led people past here, he happened to see that scene.

The fragrance curled up, and the sound of crying and sobbing came faintly.

Seeing Xiao Cheng's chariot, although he didn't know who it was, but looking at the posture of the scene, it was naturally a dignitary of the Song Dynasty. Everyone respectfully faced the chariot, crossed their hands and raised their eyebrows, and saluted deeply.

"Liu Xin, from now on, you are the magistrate of Kaifeng. Although Tokyo City is no longer the capital of Song Dynasty, his status and role are still very important to Song Dynasty. How to clean up and rebuild To make him rejuvenate again depends on the ability of you, the new magistrate." Xiao Cheng said to Liu Xin while waving to the saluting people on both sides.

"Don't worry, Shoufu!" Liu Xin said confidently: Following Shoufu these years, the subordinates are confident that they have learned something, and they believe that as long as they apply what they have learned, Tokyo City will definitely be able to prosper again.Although he is dilapidated now, although he is no longer the capital city, his background and accumulation are still there. "

"Don't be too confident!" Xiao Cheng said: "You have been doing things in the court before. You read a lot of memorials and know a lot about things. It seems that you have learned a lot about how to do things, but your biggest problem is that you don't have specific experience. After practice, many things, you will find the difficulties when you experience them yourself. Sometimes things that were lightly mentioned in a sentence in the memorial have gone through countless difficulties and obstacles in practice! Tokyo used to be the capital, and it involved More, you will experience later.”

"Subordinates will be careful!"

Xiao Cheng laughed: "When Luo Xin went to Yangzhou back then, he was also full of confidence, but then he was hit all over his head. Don't look at him now that he is proud of himself, but he suffered a lot back then. But he You have a good family background, you have a family to help you. You are different, you will suffer more if you rely on yourself, but if you make it through, your future achievements may be even greater than Luo Xin!"

"The subordinates can be what they are today, all thanks to the support of the chief assistant."

"I am willing to support all capable people, but it is up to you whether you can make it out." Xiao Cheng smiled: "The prefect of Kaifeng is the biggest test for you. If you do well, you will have a bright future." It’s bright, if you don’t do well, it’s over.”

"My subordinate understands!"

"Okay, then we will go our separate ways. You go to your government office to take up the post, and I will go home, and then set off for the Daming Mansion. You don't have to see me off!" Xiao Cheng said: "One day When you take office, you will find that countless things will overwhelm you, work hard, boy!"

Patting Liu Xin on the shoulder, Xiao Cheng said with a smile: "I hope that next year you will be the top choice in the examination book of the Ministry of Officials!"

Liu Xin got off his horse, walked to one side, sent Xiao Cheng and his party respectfully, and turned to another road.

The Xiao Mansion back then was in the Donghuamen area.

Half a stick of incense was dirty, and Xiao Cheng stood outside the Xiao Mansion where he had lived for 16 years.

The city of Tokyo was dilapidated, and even the imperial palace was looted by Yelu Longxu and then burned to the ground. If there is still a good place in the city of Tokyo, only this street owned by Xiao Mansion is left.

Over the years, the Xiao Mansion has no owner, but it is still bright and beautiful. Standing in front of the gate, one can still see the pavilions inside.

When the Liao people occupied this place, no one dared to disturb this mansion.

After the Song army regained the place, Wei Wu immediately dispatched the Baiyu army to protect it, so as not to cause trouble here by some ignorant people.

Xiao Cheng who got off his horse, his eyes became moist all of a sudden, and he wanted to take a step forward, but his steps seemed to weigh a thousand catties. This step meant that he hadn't taken it out for a long time.

The door opened slowly in front of his door, and there was no big fanfare to greet him, only two people walked out slowly, supporting an old man.

Those were Wei Wu and Wu Ke, a general of the White Feather Army and a commander of the Zhiqiu Academy. The man supported by the two of them could no longer straighten his waist. White hair and beard mixed together.

"Grandpa Xu!" Xiao Cheng's tears finally flowed down.

The man did not shed tears, but he did not go to the sad place.

Xiao Cheng rushed forward and hugged the old man who had served his family all his life.

Xu Wuyan is over eighty years old.

"Erlang, you're finally back!" Xu Wuyan also wept with joy.

(End of this chapter)