Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 79 The Sword Is Not the Enemy of Thousands of People (3)

Qiongzhou is known as the land of miasma. A little away from the coast, there are lofty mountains and forests. The old forests that have grown for thousands of years are full of poisonous snakes and beasts. Especially the invisible miasma that harms people, Han people often dare not go deep.Qiongzhou's agarwood is the best in the world, and the deeper the mountains and old forests, the rarer it is. Merchants in the south can only buy from the Li people who live in the deep mountains. The Li people can only go to the mountains to collect incense after worshiping the mountain gods.If you encounter a really dangerous place, you should choose virgins who are as guarded as jade to pick them, so as not to offend the mountain god.

The demoted official Li Ruobing's residence is so simple that it can't even be called a house. A dozen random branches support a non-circular and non-square gap, which is covered with banana leaf thatch, an unknown local branch in Qiongzhou, and the straw mats are spread on it. on the ground.The thatched hut is ventilated, and poisonous things such as snakes and scorpions sometimes crawl into it. If you don't burn incense from time to time to repel mosquitoes, it is even more uninhabitable.

Li Ruobing was still in the capital and had never seen real high-grade agarwood. Now that he is near the water, the agarwood produced here is much cheaper than in Beijing. Out of curiosity, he bought a few pieces of high-quality agarwood called Partridge Ban to light it. After burning a little, the whole room smells mellow, and there is no burnt smell when it is completely burned.Unknowingly he was amazed, there is such a treasure in the world, he counted the number of people in his family, he bought a copy for his parents, younger brother and younger sister, even Zhao Xingde, he didn't know if he was ordered to bring this thing back to the capital.

In the past few days, Li Ruobing has become accustomed to falling asleep in the miasma and the sound of the sea tide. According to the practice of demoted officials, he is not allowed to act as an official document in this nine-rank Qiongzhou.A gentleman is cautious about his independence, and if he retreats, he will take care of himself alone, and he will be contented.Now that we have arrived in Qiongzhou, there is one person who has to visit, and that is Mr. Huang Zhoushan who was also reviled in Qiongzhou.

The place where Huang Zhoushan was reprimanded was not far from him, it was next to a port, where there were many fishing villages where boat people and merchant sailors lived at sea all the year round.The land next to the fishing village is still flat, and gradually the people who are multiplying and thriving live together to reclaim land, slash-and-burn farming, planting sugar cane and jute, sugar cane is refined into high-quality sugar sand, and jute weaves cloth. Every year, sea ships bring food, salt and iron, etc. Come to collect sugar sand and linen, and sell them to the Central Plains, or to unknown countries farther away.

In this despicable place, there are not even many subordinate officials. The imperial court is very relieved of the officials who have been demoted here, and they can walk around on the island at will. As long as they are not afraid of losing their official status, they can escape by sea boat.Li Ruobing searched all the way to the past, and came to a small village where the locals lived together, and saw a hut, in which were sitting dozens of boys of all ages, and two or three of them dressed like sailors, with gray beards and hair. Mr. Huang Jian from Zhoushan, wearing a homemade robe woven from local jute, was writing vigorously on a cypress board with a piece of charcoal.

Li Ruobing read the book written by Mr. Li, "Love and educate the head of Li, minister Furong and Qiang. Familiar with one another, lead the guests to the king", these are the words in the thousand-character text written by the children of the Central Plains Kaimeng, and the corners of his eyes suddenly became moist.Huang Jian and Li Ruobing had met each other in the capital, and had heard that he had also been reviled here, so he nodded and smiled at him at this moment, and slightly stretched his left hand to the side, motioning him to sit down.With the reputation and seniority of Mr. Zhoushan, Li Ruobing is all right to sit in this enlightenment classroom.He found a slightly neatly dressed boatman and sat down beside him. The man turned his head and smiled at him in a friendly way, showing his white teeth slightly.Li Ruobing couldn't help being taken aback, the food eaten by the barbarian people here is extremely rough, and the teeth of young and middle-aged people are not bad. "Could it be that other officials are not successful?" Li Ruobing thought to herself, because Mr. Zhoushan was still teaching, so it was inconvenient to ask him.

The sea breeze is blowing, Huang Zhoushan is old and firm, and his voice is sonorous and powerful. The professors are all Luoyang Zhengyin, and the thatched cottage is silent.Li Ruobing secretly sighed: "The sixth patriarch of Zen said, "My heart is a pure land without pretending to be a foreign object. It is true. Mr. Zhoushan's cultivation level is not to be surprised. In the wilderness, his heart is like a pure land, and this place has become like a paradise. where."

While sighing, there was a commotion in the village not far away, and someone shouted loudly: "Run, the pirates are coming!"

Although Guangnan Road Patrol Marines often patrol the waters around Beijiuluozhou and Shitang, and can even go to Huanzhouguo, Dazhouyang and other distant seas, but in the vast sea, merchants and bandits are hard to distinguish, and some ships are bandits when they land , looting the village and then sailing away.There are large and small ports, boat people, and many villages where the common people live and live. It is really difficult to take care of it. The location of the fishing village where Huang Zhoushan is located is a bit remote.It is the targets of those pirates who like to loot easily. Although there is not much oil and water, they can always grab a few women, or get some supplies such as food.

Li Ruobing's face also changed, the town where the army was stationed recently was dozens of miles away, and he was about to get up and pull Huang Jian to take shelter for a while.As soon as the warning shout fell, more than a dozen men with tanned skin and fierce faces appeared outside the thatched cottage holding short knives.

That sea bandit declared that he was from Annan. Li Chaoyelang was arrogant, and brazenly captured the three cities of Qinzhou, Lianzhou, and Yongzhou in the Song Dynasty, and slaughtered tens of thousands of scholars and people in the Song Dynasty.Song Guoan’s southern battalion deployed commanders who were greedy for life and afraid of death, and feared that the miasma in the south would be severe. After the victory over the Jiaozhi Army, they made arbitrarily assertive decisions and easily withdrew the army after accepting a letter of surrender from the King of the Jiaozhi Li Dynasty.From then on, the people of Cochin country thought that Song Dynasty was weak and easy to bully, and even the Cochin pirates who lived on the sea would plunder in Song Dynasty from time to time.

Shen Ming observed this simple fishing village in the nearby grass, and then fixed his eyes on the only decent thatched hut. escape.He identified Huang Jian, Li Ruobing, who were neatly dressed, and the young man beside Li Ruobing as well-to-do wealthy households. He secretly rejoiced, put the short knife in his hand against Huang Zhoushan's chest, and shouted sharply: "The money and food are hidden in the Where, say it quickly, or I will kill you." A dozen sea bandits around shouted, threatening everyone in the thatched cottage, and several children were so frightened that they cried loudly. As soon as it sank, he immediately asked his subordinates to kill the crying children first.

When all the sea bandits were about to attack, the man beside Li Ruobing turned livid and shouted loudly: "Wait a minute! I have something." .The pirates understood at that time, and they were not in a hurry to kill people. A pirate with a crescent-shaped scar on his face walked over with a grinning grin. As soon as he stretched out his hand, he was about to catch the young man.

The clinker young man took out something like an iron pipe from his pocket and pointed it at the pirate. The man was taken aback for a moment. At this moment, he heard a loud bang, which was earth-shattering. The pirate screamed and turned his head up. He fell to the ground, dying of sight.

Just when everyone was still in shock, the young man took a step forward, put the firecracker in his hand against Shen Ming's head, and threatened viciously: "If you want to die, teach your subordinates to do it!"

That Ming was stunned, his teeth were chattering, he saw a big hole in his accomplice's chest, he was dead, blood was still bubbling, he couldn't help but tremblingly said: "Back, back, put down the knives." Seeing this, his accomplices dare not approach him.At this time, a pirate named Ruan Ji, who had seen firecrackers by chance, remembered that if the thing was not filled with ammunition, it could only be fired once, and said loudly: "This little white face is cheating. The gun can only be fired once, and everyone stood shoulder to shoulder and chopped him up."

The first leader asked to abandon the knife, and the second leader asked to fight. The group of pirates looked at each other, not knowing who to listen to. Shen Ming rolled his eyes slightly, and seemed to be a little suspicious.The young man suddenly became angry, strangled his neck with his left hand, and slammed the muzzle of the gun on Shen Ming's temple with his right hand, and then nailed it there with the gun, and shouted: "If you don't believe me, come here, just kill this man!" The leader, the second leader is a good leader!" Blood flowed out from Shen Ming's forehead immediately, and he secretly thought that this little bastard had a lot of strength, and after hearing what his second leader said, he gave Ruan Ji a hard look, and sternly shouted: "Who You are not allowed to come here, or I will sink him into the sea to feed the sharks."

The words of the man holding the firecracker just hit Ruan Ji's mind inadvertently, he winked at his confidant beside him, and said loudly: "Master, this little boy is deceitful, this fire The blunderbuss can only be fired once!" Then he greeted left and right: "Let's go together and kill this boy." Seeing that several of Shen Ming's confidants were still hesitating, Ruan Ji had already made up his mind to take advantage of the chaos to end up with the big master's idea, holding a The dagger, "forced" forward step by step, grinned grimly, "You little boy is cheating, sir, I don't believe it..." Before he finished speaking, there was a whoosh, and an iron crossbow arrow hit the back of the head, and he didn't even cry out. With a cry, he fell to the ground.

The man breathed a sigh of relief, put away the firecracker, and sighed: "I didn't expect some 'hair' thieves to know the firecracker." Pushing Shen Ming to the ground, he said in a deep voice: Isn't it the first time to kill innocent people?" At this time, from the back of the nearby houses, in the grass, more than [-] people dressed as boatmen came out, each holding a strong crossbow and pointed at the pirates in the thatched hut. Approach slowly.

Someone shouted sharply: "Haven't you dropped the knife yet?"

The dozen or so pirates showed some hesitation, the man's expression darkened, and he pressed down with his left hand without anyone noticing, and the surrounding crossbows immediately shot together, killing all the dozen or so pirates. , leaving only the bandit leader Shenming alone, paralyzed on the ground, the man said leisurely: "You have robbed me, Li Sihai, you have the kind." Shenming exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?" Stepping forward quickly, he kicked his temple on the temple, that Ming Ming didn't know how to dodge, and was kicked to death by this man there.

Seeing that the pirates were all subdued, Li Sihai waved his hands to let his subordinates clean up the corpses, turned around and cupped his hands to Huang Jian, and said, "I'm Li Sihai, the word is Xiaoyao, I just surprised Mr. Zhoushan, please forgive me." As usual, there was no murderous intent of executing dozens of pirates in one fell swoop just now.