A knife in love

Chapter 1142

After Liu Jun heard this, he asked Li Qiufeng what his plan was.Li Qiufeng only said that he planned to go to Fusang country for a visit.Liu Jun was taken aback and shook his head again and again, advising him not to take risks alone.However, Li Qiufeng said that he promised Liu Feiyan to send her ashes back to Hanshan fishing village in Fusang country.What's more, Liu Zongyan is a generation of martial arts masters, but his bones are buried thousands of miles overseas, and what happened is lamentable.If he went to Fusang country by himself, if he could welcome back Liu Zongyan's remains, it would be considered as fulfilling the last wish of this martial arts master.

Seeing that Li Qiufeng has made up his mind, Liu Jun had to allow him to leave Shushan.Before Li Qiufeng went down the mountain, Liu Jun wanted to hand over the Puyuan knife left by Zhao Yun, the former general of the Han Dynasty, to him to carry with him.However, Li Qiufeng thought that the Pu Yuan knife was extremely sharp, and when fighting with people, a single carelessness could kill someone or injure someone's limbs, which could easily lead to catastrophe.You can still find an ordinary steel knife to use.Seeing that Li Qiufeng has such a heart, Liu Jun was very happy and praised him greatly.

After Li Qiufeng bid farewell to Liu Jun and Huang Zongchuan, he left Qingcheng Mountain.He first went to Chengdu and walked around Zhu Shishi's mansion.After a few months, although there is no change outside the palace, the inside of the walls is quite clean.Seeing that Li Qiufeng had arrived, Zhu Shishi and the princess were overjoyed.Li Qiufeng told the two that the eldest son is already in good health, and he studies with Liu Jun every day, so please don't worry.Zhu Shishi and the princess were delighted and thanked them repeatedly.Zhu Shishi even told Li Qiufeng that he had entrusted an old servant surnamed Wu to buy [-] mu of fertile land outside Chengdu, and gave it to some poor people to cultivate.The weather is good this year, and the harvest is expected to be good.

Li Qiufeng stayed in the palace for only half a day, then ignored Zhu Shishi and the princess's persuasion, left Chengdu, went north to Hanzhong, took the ancient Chencang road to Shaanxi, went east from Xi'an mansion, passed Tongguan, and arrived at Luoyang.Recalling the various encounters in Luoyang half a year ago, it seems like a lifetime away.

Afterwards, he traveled northward from Luoyang to a secret place outside the imperial mausoleum, and took the ashes of Liu Feiyan who was hidden here, and then hurried southward until he arrived in Ningbo.It took a full two months to travel all the way, even though Xiaoxing stayed overnight.When he arrived outside the city of Ningbo, it was already the afternoon of August 24th.

When Li Qiufeng arrived at the north gate of Ningbo City, he saw that the gate was heavily guarded, with dozens of soldiers holding guns and knives, checking passers-by one by one.Li Qiufeng was surprised and thought to himself that he had walked through many cities, and besides the capital city, Ningbo city was the most heavily guarded.Thinking that Ningbo is a place near the sea, in order to prevent Japanese pirates from invading, it is so heavily guarded.

When Li Qiufeng walked to the gate of the city, he was searched by several soldiers before he was let into the city.Li Qiufeng knew that Ningbo was the location of the Yamen of the Shibo Department. If he wanted to sail to Fusang, he had to start from Ningbo.Previously, he had heard from Yang Zhenzhong and others that the envoys of the Fusang Kingdom fought violently at the Bosi Yamen in Ningbo City, killing and wounding many officials.If you want to come to the imperial court, you must reprimand officials at all levels in Ningbo, which makes the city gates so tightly guarded.I have to deal with it carefully to avoid side effects.

After Li Qiufeng entered the city, he first found an inn to stay.After the luggage and other things were settled properly, he acted as if nothing had happened, and asked the shopkeeper where the pier was.The shopkeeper was not suspicious, and told him in detail how to get to the pier.Li Qiufeng thanked him, then walked out of the inn and went straight to the pier.

The inn is not too far from the pier, Li Qiufeng only walked for half an hour, and he has already arrived at Yongjiang Yaqian pier.

Although it has passed the season of "the river is as green as blue in spring", the river is still flowing eastward like a piece of jasper.The surface of the river is not wide, and the sound of oars and sculls is intertwined with boats and boats passing through it, spreading far and wide on the river.Camphor trees are planted all over the banks, and countless camellias are planted under the trees.The river wind passed by, and the light fragrance of flowers enveloped the entire Yongjiang River.

Ningbo has been an important town in the southeast since ancient times, and it was called Mingzhou in ancient times.In the third year of Hongwu, in order to avoid the taboo of the country name, Mingzhou was changed to Ningbo.This is because Dinghai County is under the jurisdiction of Mingzhou, which means "Hai Ding Ze Bo Ning".In addition to stationing heavy troops in coastal defense, there is also a Ningbo Shipyard Yamen, which is in charge of trade with North Korea and Fusang.It is very close to Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, and it is the hub of the north-south communication, so it is very prosperous.

Standing on the shore of the pier, Li Qiufeng saw a forest of ship masts and pedestrians coming and going in front of him.The merchants and boatmen coming and going on and off the boat are crowded with each other, which is extremely lively.Compared with this place, Chaotianmen Wharf in Chongqing Prefecture is naturally far behind.

Li Qiufeng walked back and forth on the pier for a long time.He made up his mind to find a boat and go to the Fusang country thousands of miles away.If you want to cross the ocean, you need a big ship.So he walked up and down, only looking for the big boat.Finally, I saw a three-masted ship, the hull of which was more than twice the size of ordinary ships.His heart moved, and he walked to the side of the big boat.I saw that the big ship was tied to two stone pillars on the shore with two ropes thick as bowls, and there were still large and small wooden boxes and bags piled up on the shore, like a hill, presumably they were all goods to be moved on board.

Li Qiufeng walked to the shore with his hands behind his back, pretending to be nonchalant, as if he was listening to some idlers talking.But there were three or four people standing under the big boat, looking anxiously at the boat, as if they were waiting for someone to arrive.After a while, two boatmen appeared at the bow of the boat and moved out a long plank.The two of them worked together to put one end of the ship plank on the shore and the other end on the bow, and then retreated to the sides of the deck.

After the two boatmen retreated, another person appeared at the bow of the boat.I saw that this person was not tall, with a slightly fat body, and a pair of bright eyes on his square face.With two short beards around his lips, trembling slightly with the smile at the corner of his mouth, he is clearly a wealthy person.

The man lifted his legs and stepped onto the boat, and a boatman behind him hurriedly said: "Mr. Zhang, be careful, don't slip and fall into the water."

Zhang Yuanwai kept on stepping, with a smile on his face, and said in his mouth: "I have been traveling on this ship for more than 20 years, can you remind me?"

The few people standing on the shore saw Zhang Yuanwai appearing, and immediately bowed and stood still, with very respectful expressions.I saw Zhang Yuanwai staggeringly stepped on the plank of the boat and walked down. After his feet landed on the shore, he arched his hands and smiled at the people on the shore: "Teach you guys to wait a long time. Forgive me, forgive me."

Those few people kept smiling faces, not even daring to say anything.The leader, a fat man in his 40s, said with a smile on his face, "Mr. Zhang, what did the boss of the ship say?"

Zhang Yuanwai heard his question, the smile on his face disappeared immediately, he sighed, and said: "It's not that the boss of the ship doesn't help, it's because the imperial government is too strict. At present, not only the Shibuyamen is sending people to search the ships on the dock, Ningbo The magistrate’s yamen also took over the errand, and made a list of all the boats that enter and leave the docks in Ningbo every day. If they don’t return to the dock for three days, they will issue official documents to arrest them. I heard that the Zhejiang Navy and the Fujian Navy each transferred five or six ships. The warship is patrolling the open sea at this moment. If there is a ship that wants to go to sea, if the navy finds it, it will immediately fire and bombard it. The boss of the ship is frightened and refuses to go to sea..."

When Zhang Yuanwai said this, he let out another long sigh, with a troubled look on his face.The expressions of the people standing on the shore changed drastically. Two of them were dejected and their faces were distorted, as if they were about to shed tears.

The fat man in his 40s rubbed his hands and said with a smile, "Mr. Zhang, we have known each other for many years, so we might as well say something straight. This time the shopkeepers have spent a lot of money, and each of them paid 4 to [-]." Two silver coins. If you delay for a few more days, these things will fall into your hands, and everyone will have to throw themselves into the river to see Lord Dragon."

Zhang Yuanwai gave a wry smile, and said in his mouth: "Brother Hu, don't you know your difficulties? The rumors are too tight, and the boss of the boat doesn't want to risk his life for a hundred taels of silver, does he?"

As soon as Zhang Yuanwai finished speaking, the fat man's expression changed. After thinking for a moment, he gritted his teeth and said to Zhang Yuanwai: "Old Zhang, we are on the verge of riding a tiger, and we have to do this business. Please go and talk to the boat boss again, These shopkeepers and I are willing to each contribute another sum of money to make up 3000 taels, and ask the boss of the boat to take us on a journey."

As soon as the fat man finished speaking, not only Zhang Yuanwai's expression changed, but the people around him were also dumbfounded.After a while, Zhang Yuanwai laughed dryly, and said, "Old Hu, even if your brother is willing to pay the money, the other shopkeepers may not be willing. If you go to Fusang, the profit will be more than 1000 taels of silver at most. If you pay Giving so much money to the boss of the boat, isn’t it a waste of time? All shopkeepers are shrewd people, and they will definitely not suffer such a big loss..."

The fat man didn't wait for him to finish, so he rushed to say: "Mr. Zhang, even if he doesn't make a penny, it's more cost-effective than throwing tens of thousands of taels of silver in his hands, isn't it?"

(End of this chapter)