Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 52

There was still an hour before dark, and if the footsteps were faster, they could arrive at the county town and stay at the hotel, but Xiao Yanping still ordered the porters of the caravan to camp by this small ferry.After entering the mainland of the Great Song Dynasty, Han Shizhong did not interfere with how he arranged his itinerary. He only waited until the sky was dark, and the soldiers came to report. The shopkeeper Xiao took a man on the ferry, and Han Shizhong smiled at Zhao Xingde: " Sure enough, there is no business and no rape. I told you and me in the daytime that the business of guano can't make a lot of money, and at night, I went to other people's boats to find a way. Anyway, you and I don't have the capital to do this big business by boat. "He said it lightly, and Zhao Xingde also laughed it off.

At the Fengqiao Ferry, the river boat loaded with guano is mooring at the trestle bridge, and a yellow paper lantern is hung on the mizzen, reflecting the sparkling water, and the noise of the usual river boat sailors playing money and drinking at night It was different, the boat was quiet, only a dozen or so pairs of eyes were hidden in the dark, vigilantly monitoring the surrounding situation.

A servant led the way with a lantern with painted flowers. Xiao Yanping stopped beside the boat along the trestle bridge. Before he could say hello, a gangplank was put down on the boat. Xiao Yanping boarded the ferry with his servant without further ado. , The springboard was retracted silently.In the cabin, Deng Yuanjue was sitting in the rattan chair. When Xiao Yanping saw him, he immediately bowed down and said: "Xiao Yanping, a disciple of the Holy Cult, see King Baoguang." Deng Yuanjue waved his hand and said, "Brother Xiao, please get up. "He signaled the following Mingjiao disciples to go out, and after closing the door, he smiled and said: "Old Xiao, your friendship with me is extraordinary, how can we be restricted by these common etiquette, sit down quickly." Make tea.

Xiao Yanping smiled bitterly and said: "Master Fang is about to start an incident, and he has repeatedly taught me to respect the rules, and I will follow the orders." Deng Yuanjue pushed the teacup in front of him, and said with a smile: "The rules are all for the people below to see. When there is no one else, it is good that you and I are still brothers like before."

"I would like to abide by the instructions of the Fawang." Xiao Yanping felt that there was a mistake when he said the words. He picked up the teacup with his left hand, patted his cheek with his right hand, and said with a smile: "It's easy to say."

Deng Yuanjue laughed it off, looked at the dark water outside, and said in a low voice: "Is the affairs of the Liao Kingdom going smoothly? Those five thousand waist knives, three hundred pairs of armor, one thousand firecrackers, and ten thousand catties of 'medicine' powder, can Is everything done?"

"Everything is fine!" Xiao Yanping replied, "All the important things are hidden in the trunk of the big tree. They go to sea in Liaodong, and they are sent directly to Yangzhou by sea boat." He took Jiaozi out of his arms and handed him To Deng Yuanjue.Deng Yuanjue took it over, put it in his arms without looking at it, and praised: "Well done! The leader's attack is imminent, everything is ready, only the east wind is missing, there is no shortage of people right now, only the armor is missing, this batch of things is really a timely help. Yes." He paused for a moment, and then said, "As expected, the world is as black as crows, and this Liao official dares to sell anything for money."

Xiao Yan took care of the property for the Mingjiao all the year round, running among the rich and powerful, and only smiled embarrassingly when he heard the words.Deng Yuanjue recounted the past without saying a word, and introduced to Xiao Yanping the situation of Fang La, the leader of the Ming religion, who was preparing for an uprising in the south of the Yangtze River. The event swept across the southeast, with Jinling as the capital, the country was named Daming, and then it was ruled by a river with the Song Dynasty.Xiao Yanping listened, with a hesitant look on his face, after a long while of deliberation, he interrupted Deng Yuanjue and said: "Brother Deng, from what I saw in Hebei, the imperial court must have a relationship with the Liao Kingdom within a few years. At that time, most of the government's elite imperial troops will be trapped in Hebei and Youyan, unable to look south, why doesn't the leader wait until then to start an incident?"

Deng Yuanjue was taken aback, looked at Xiao Yanping a few times, coughed just now, and said earnestly: "Old Xiao, you can say this in front of me. If you meet brothers from other religions, don't be rash." After a pause, he said in a deep voice, "Master Fang sensed heaven's heart above, and earth's luck below. You and I can't question the timing of the incident calculated by his ingenuity. Not long ago, there was a man surnamed Jin in the church who made a false comment. He was tied up in the middle of the night by the elders of the Law Enforcement Hall to feed the fish." Seeing that Xiao Yanping was still puzzled, Deng Yuanjue secretly sighed in his heart, this old Xiao has been an old brother who has made great efforts for the Mingjiao sect for decades, but he is still just an old brother. As the chief deacon, he was not promoted to Dharma Protector or Dharma King, and he was not even a party's sacrificial wine. "This year, there is a severe drought in the southeast, and the harvest in the fields has halved, and the tea is not good. However, the court's taxes have increased instead, and people complain. The southeast is everywhere. If the situation of dry firewood is delayed, who knows whether the coming year or the year after will be smooth? Shengdou common people, as long as they have food to eat, will definitely not follow the disciples of the Holy Cult to revolt in the southeast." Nian Zai and Xiao Yanping For the sake of being a close friend for many years, Deng Yuanjue explained it again in words he could understand.

"So that's how it is," Xiao Yanping murmured, still regretting the great opportunity for Song and Liao to start the war. Deng Yuanjue patted him on the shoulder and said, "If the big thing comes to fruition, brother Xiao, you have made great contributions to the holy religion. It's hard to say six books. Zhou Mushou can’t run away.” “Then you need Brother Deng to support you more, Zhou Mu dare not think about it, brother, I can just lift up the Shi Ship Secretary.” “Well, you and I are old brothers for decades, and we are both prosperous. , If you lose everything, why be polite."

The two reunited after a long absence, and after talking and laughing happily, they bid farewell.After Xiao Yanping left the ferry, he immediately returned to the caravan camp without any other changes.Han Shizhong was more and more sure that the old guy didn't want to meddle in his guano business, so he was quite rude to him in the next few days, but Xiao Yanping only kept his word and dealt with him carefully, until he arrived at Hejianfu City, he was sealed off again. A reward of four thousand guan was given to Han Shizhong.Han Shizhong used all of it to support the family of the fallen soldiers. After he was free, he went around to inquire about the traces of horse thieves on the border of the Liao and Song Dynasties marked with wolf heads, but he never found anything.

After Zhao Xingde returned to Hejian Mansion, he put all the [-] guan remuneration for this trip into the volunteer school, and built a small printing workshop, specially printing the characters used by soldiers to learn characters.During this period, he visited Wang Yan several times.Wang Yan has served as the governor of Jinyan Mansion in Hebei for more than ten years. He knows all about the bandits in the Taihang Mountains and the horse thieves on all roads in Hebei. He heard Zhao Xingde describe the behavior of the horse thieves and leave marks, but he still doesn't know which group of thieves they are. It is not uncommon to say that horse thieves on the Hebei border divide and combine, but these three or four hundred riders can be regarded as a large stock. After careful inquiries by the Jinyan Mansion, there will be results.

The Hebei camp seems to be busy all the time. In the past few months, the camp has deployed Tong Guan to increase the military pay of the Zhenbei Army, which has reached three times that of the ordinary imperial army. Three lieutenants have been promoted, and two generals have been dismissed. , so that all the generals in the Hebei camp were a little afraid of power and virtue.Immediately afterwards, Tong Guan began to select elites from the original Hebei armies to enrich the Zhenbei Army. Those who are not tall and mighty, those who cannot carry heavy loads and travel long distances are not required, and those who cannot lift two hundred catties of stone locks are not required, but they will be rewarded generously. The troops in the camp were still flocking to them. In just ten days, the Zhenbei Army had increased from 5000 to 1. Tong Guan scattered all these Hebei soldiers and placed them in the original ranks of the Zhenbei Army. The bugles are the first army to the fourth army in Zhenbei.

Han Shizhong was personally taken care of by the officials, and some time ago he captured dozens of heads of horse thieves. After checking, they are real young thugs. Therefore, without sticking to one pattern, he was promoted to the commander of the Second Zhenbei Army by leapfrogging his rank, and he was often asked about his orders. He seemed to be Tong Shuai's confidant and favorite general, which made the rest of the Zhenbei Army envious.Zhou Dingchen, the secretary in charge of the Hebei women's camp, saw this style, and without Han Shizhong's further mention, he canceled Li Hongyu's prostitution status, and even found a friend to fabricate her identity as a woman from a good family, and sent it to Han Shizhong's residence overnight.On the day of Chuichuidada's wedding in the camp, Zhao Xingde blocked several glasses of wine for Han Shizhong, but he was so drunk that he almost entered the bridal chamber for the groom, and was dragged out to sleep next to the bridal chamber for a night.

Wang Yan didn't interfere with Zhao Xingde's setting up righteous schools to teach soldiers and associate with generals. He only reminded him not to miss the study of sage scriptures. The most important Jinshi since the founding of the People's Republic of China, I don't know how many pretentious talents have regretted it all their lives.

Chao Buzhi sent a letter to inquire about Zhao Xingde's recent academic progress, and encouraged him to take advantage of this rare opportunity while studying diligently. Follow the wind, and observe Hebei."

In their correspondence with Zhao Xingde, Chen Dong, Zhang Bing and other Taixue scholars also mentioned that the students of Taixue Middle School were also nervously preparing for Qiu Wei, and they also notified Xingde in time that Qin Hui, the rumored doctor of Taixue Middle School, might take the post. The chief examiner of Li Wei, now many imperial scholars are rushing to his sect. Deng Su in the Neo Confucian Society is quite low-key, because Qin Hui is his teacher, and has been working hard recently to study books, so that this Jinshi can win the prize. It is convincing.

Li Ruoxu also wrote a letter to Zhao Xingde, but in the letter he asked about Zhao Xingde's recent situation, clothes and quilts, etc. It was obviously written for Sister Nai, and Xingde answered this letter most carefully and eloquently. After writing a detailed report in nearly 5000 words, Li Ruoxue was so ashamed that she never asked her younger brother to write to him again.

The first heavy snow of this winter finally fell one after another, and the sky and the earth piled up into a plain white. This afternoon, Sima Wang Yan, the marching army, brought good news to Tong Guan, who was deployed in the Hebei camp: "Ke Lie's department has arrived at the border of the Liao Kingdom. , Mr. Shen explained that Tong Shuai has full authority to handle the affairs of the Ministry attached to our court, and Jinyan Mansion will fully cooperate."

Tong Guan squinted his eyes and looked at Wang Yan. He was the most well-behaved general in the Hebei camp. no.He stroked the beard under his chin, pondered for a moment, and said: "Kret's department came from afar to attach us to our dynasty. This should be a reward for Huaiyuan people. It's the middle of winter, and I will reward you with two thousand brocades first." Let Kelie move to Hejian to spend the winter as soon as possible." He paused, and then said: "The troublesome king will tell the patriarch Kelie that the warriors of the three thousand grasslands are our Hebei University The fifth army in Yingzhenbei, as long as he serves the court sincerely and is loyal to the emperor, this commander will protect his prosperity and wealth for the rest of his life."