Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 98

The candles in the prison flickered on and off, and the faces of all the jailers changed slightly.The official of the Kaifeng government had also read the Spring and Autumn Annals, and he didn't ask any more questions after hearing the words, but only ordered to use punishment.After beating for a while, Zhang Bing fainted, then woke up with cold water and continued, and so on, until the executioner complained a little, then the officer gave up, and angrily returned to Kaifeng Mansion Yin Lin.

In the evening, Fan An secretly soaked the malleus stick, nailed leather whip, and super-cudgeon with "urine" liquid, and Wang Bingqi, who was on duty together, said, "Old Fan, why are you doing this?" The jailer's secret is to torture with torture instruments soaked in 'urine'. The wounds are not easy to rot and heal easily. Usually, the prisoner's family members spend money to use them.

Fan An's face was gloomy, and he sighed: "I hope Lord Yan will look at Wenqu Xingjun and lift Lao Fan from the [-]th hell to the [-]th floor after his death." The urine mixed with his food and drinking water is also the secret recipe for relieving pain and sores. After Zhang Bing was severely tortured, his five senses were all dull, and he didn't notice any difference.

A flat-bottomed sailing boat was moored at the Songzhou Wharf, and there was a little light in the cabin. Chen Dong lay flat on the narrow bed with his head up, unintentionally reading, his eyes only staring at the dim candlelight. Thinking about something.This ship is the property of the Chen family, but in order to avoid people's eyes and ears, he can only live in this small cabin with hidden compartments.

Suddenly there were three quick knocks on the side of the boat, Chen Dong jumped up from the bed like a spring, blew out the oil lamp, uncovered a corner of the cabin, quickly drilled in, and then covered the boat again from the bottom.He is already very familiar with this series of subconscious actions. He escaped from Bianjing to Yingtian Mansion, and he handled it like this every time an official searched him.

In order to prevent the officers from discovering, the secret compartment is extremely narrow and can only accommodate one person. After covering the ship planks, the inside is pitch black, and only a faint gray light can be seen from the cracks in the ship planks.Chen Dong held his breath and waited quietly. Sometimes the official mission is just a false story, and the boss of the boat passes the check with some money.Sometimes they have to look around pretendingly, hoping to find one or two prohibited goods, and ask for more sealed money.

This time, as the footsteps of "咚咚咚" approached, the cabin door creaked open, and Chen Dong's heart rose to his throat.

"My lord, this is a private ship of my duty. I really didn't carry any private goods?" Xu Youshan, the owner of the ship, was crying, and it seemed that he was an official who was blackmailed.At this time, if you don't complain and give money honestly, it will make the inspector suspicious and think you are a guilty conscience.

"Hmph," said a voice, "there are too many civilian ships coming and going, how many of them are not entrained." Another official said: "To be honest, is it private salt or tea?" Walking around in the cabin, rummaging around, knocking on the bulkhead with the handle of a knife from time to time, trying to find the hidden compartment with private goods.

When the official came to the deck above the head, the dust fell, and Chen Dong remained motionless, for fear of being noticed by him.

Xu Youshan, the captain of the boat, didn't dare to take risks, he smiled and approached, and sent the leading official a letter from his sleeve, which was about twenty pieces.The bribers and extortionists on the Bianhe River all had proper rules, and he didn't dare to give too much, lest people think he brought a lot of prohibited things.

The official looked at the number of jiaozi, and thought to himself that this is a man who knows the rules, but he frowned and scolded: "Damn, you wait to get rich, but the old man drinks the northwest wind at night and sends beggars away?" He even opened his pants and began to urinate in the cabin. Another officer laughed and said, "That's right." They came over to pee together.

Seeing where they were standing, Xu Youshan's face was pale, and he said in a trembling voice: "Master, you can't do it, this..." He hurriedly took out a [-]-count note and put it next to him.

The most annoying thing about the clinker official was being interrupted when he was urinating, and he stretched out his hand to push him away, and shouted: "Stand honestly, I have annoyed the master, believe it or not, I will detain your boat?" See Xu Youshan Holding the jiaozi and standing beside him in embarrassment, he whistled and continued to relax, and deliberately aimed the 'piss' column at the gap in the ship's plank to prevent it from overflowing onto his boots.

The ticking 'piss' and 'liquid' were like enlightenment, and Chen Dong's hat and clothes under the boat plank were all wet.Suffering such shame and humiliation, Chen Dong was almost swallowed by burning anger, but the last trace of rationality forced him to endure it.His canthus was completely cracked, and he almost gritted his teeth, suppressing his heart like a mountain of anger.He clenched his fists, nails digging deep into his flesh.A few drops of dark red blood dripped to the ground.

The official waiter was satisfied when he had finished his urine, and gently took away the added Jiaozi, cursing and leaving the cabin.A low voice came from above: "Master, the official has left, are you alright?"

The boat board moved slightly, Xu Youshan hurriedly helped to lift the boat board, and Chen Dong with a livid face climbed out.Looking at the concerned and guilt-ridden boss, Chen Dong was silent for a moment, forced a smile out of nowhere, and said slowly, "It's okay, just find a set of clean clothes and come here."

After Xu Youshan went out, Chen Dong closed his eyes for a long time, still feeling angry, he slammed his left fist on the bulkhead, and said in a deep voice: "If the world turns around, if you don't kill all the 'treacherous' thieves, I, Chen Dong, swear not to be human."

On the bank of the Yellow River, Zhao Xingde and Li Ruoxue carefully followed behind the group of farmers who were about to smuggle to Xiaguo.Among the group of people was a leader who was extremely vigilant, looking around from time to time.

Zhao Xingde and Li Ruoxue didn't dare to get close, they just walked through the rugged rocks a little far away from the river bank, hiding their bodies from time to time, so they haven't been noticed.

Not long after, these people stopped at a river beach, Zhao Xingde couldn't help being startled, the river bed not far downstream here sank and broke, forming a section of waterfall, not only the water flow was fast, it was not suitable for a ferry at all, and there was no ferry on the bank shadow.Li Ruoxue's eyes were also full of doubts, and she followed Zhao Xingde to hide behind a huge mushroom-shaped stone pillar, watching how the farmers crossed the river.

The group of farmers just followed the leader hesitantly, getting closer and closer to the river. The leader just looked around again, stepped into the river, and bent down to feel under a huge black rock on the bank. With his hands moving, he gradually lifted the end of an iron cable, and he beckoned three or five big men to do it together, pulling the iron cable up until the entire iron cable was 'exposed' to the surface of the water, and it actually traversed the wide river. , until the other side.

Those peasants who were waiting to cross the river showed surprise expressions one after another.At the beginning, under the greeting of the leader, they put the burden in the leather bag they carried, each inflated a sheepskin bag and tied it to the body, in a group of three or five people, tied the front and back with ropes, just followed the iron rope, and went down to the In the rushing river.

The turbulent waves of the Yellow River crashed against the shore, and there was a huge roar all the time, but dozens of farmers were actually only relying on a single iron cable to endure the force of the rushing river. Move to the other side of the river bit by bit.Due to the turbulent current, they moved very slowly, and the first group of people did not reach the opposite bank until half an hour later.Regardless of their will or stamina, Zhao Xingde was shocked by this group of farmers crossing the river.

"If we put up a recruiting flag on the other side of the river and gather these farmers together for a little training, we will be able to fight against millions of strong soldiers." Zhao Xingde sighed, Li Ruoxue also nodded, and said with a frown: "We also want to Crossing the river like this?"

At this time, the peasants had all crossed the Yellow River, and there were naturally people on the other side to meet them, while the leader here slowly put the iron chain back into the river, and no traces could be seen from the bank. leave.

Zhao Xingde pondered for a moment, nodded and said: "If there is no easy way, these peasants will not risk their lives." His words are on point, this section of the Yellow River is the border between Xia State and Song State , in order to guard against sneak attacks by the other party, and to prevent farmers from fleeing to Xia, the imperial court built beacon towers at places where the rivers were slow and easy to cross, and sent out sentries to guard them. Gods and ghosts are unpredictable, and even if the frontier soldiers knew about them, they would not be able to eliminate them one by one.

"If there is a war between the two countries, as long as the Xia army uses these iron chains to send elites to cross the river to sneak attack Fengsui, and then seize the ferry, just like Lu Meng crossing the river in white to take Jingzhou, the river defense will be useless." Zhao Xingde looked at the whirlpool. The river was turbid, and there was not a trace of iron chains to be found, so he sighed with emotion.