Kingdom of Heaven and Han

Chapter 694 The Wealth Sent

On June [-]th, the beginning of autumn, Orihiko left Luoyang City with artillery and craftsmen.Wang Ruohai and a group of officials sent them out of the city, and waited until Orihiko and his party had traveled far before turning back.Zhe Yanzhi and his party went along the Nanxia Post Road.

Under the shed of a wine shop on the side of the road in Longmen Town, two men were sitting.While drinking, he looked at the scenery on the official road.

Suddenly, the people exclaimed and ran away one after another.Not long after, I saw a group of soldiers coming up the official road.Under the banner, the officials on horseback look majestic, fearful and dignified, looking forward to their own majesty.Behind the officials, there were several three-horse carts, and the things they were pulling were covered with grass thatch.

He stared at the cart until he was far away, then the man picked up the wine bowl and drank it down in one gulp.

Another sighed in a low voice: "Brother, it must be a cannon. A three-horse cart can pull nearly two thousand catties. What else can it be besides a cannon?"

The man nodded: "The official is Zhe Yanzhi, a member of the Zhe family in Fuzhou, and now he is the Privy Council of the Song Dynasty. He went to Luoyang and heard that he wanted artillery. That Wang Xiaohun is also interesting, such a sharp weapon , if someone asks for it, he will give it to you. You can’t be wrong, just let’s hang on to these people.”

After speaking, the man lifted the wine bottle and poured another bowl of wine.

The wine of the Song Dynasty was packed in jars, and there are many bottles on the market. In "Water Margin", the wine that Wu Song drank before fighting the tiger is called Toupingxiang, which should be bottled wine.Compared with later generations, wine bottles in the Song Dynasty were relatively large, usually one or two liters.The style of the bottle is relatively uniform, and generally has the name of the wine store.Since the wine in most places is government-run, the government will recycle old bottles.

After drinking for a while, seeing Orihiko and his party had gone far away, the two men stood up and followed far behind.

After passing Longmen, Orihiko and his party stopped at Pengpo Town.The two men followed behind and lived in the inn beside the post road.

When it got dark, a man left the inn, went to the deli shop on the street, bought two catties of cooked beef, bought a few sesame seed cakes, and returned to the shop.Put the biscuits and beef on the table, call the servant to bring a bottle of wine, and the two sit and drink.

After drinking a glass of wine, the man said: "It's really strange, why hasn't Mr. He followed up? Could something have happened?"

Another man said: "No. Mr. He is a shrewd man, so how could there be an accident?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the young servant say outside the door: "Two guest officials, there is a Heguan from Luoyang who is an old friend of the two. I don't know if it is or not?"

The man stood up at once, jumped to the door and opened it.Said: "Where is the visitor? I do have an acquaintance named He."

The boy said: "I asked that person to wait outside the store, and came here to let me know."

When the man saw the boy finished speaking, his eyes rolled around.Knowingly, he took out a few copper coins, handed them to the boy, and said, "Brother, take them to buy wine."

The young man took the copper coins and smiled brightly.Leading the man out of the inn, pointing to a person standing under the locust tree outside the door, said: "Isn't that from He Guan?"

Hearing that, member He hurriedly turned around and said to the man, "It's here indeed! Let me find it!"

Saying goodbye to the boy, the two entered the inn.After entering the room, the man hurriedly said: "We just bought some meat, and we are drinking outside."

Congratulatory sat down, picked up the wine glass on the table and drank it down.He grabbed another piece of meat and threw it into his mouth to chew a few times.Cai said: "It can't be wrong. The one who left Luoyang City today is Zhe Yanzhi, and he returned to Hangzhou with the artillery. I found out clearly that this time there are not only the artillery, but also the people who use the artillery and the artisans who cast the artillery. It’s gone! This is the wealth and honor that came down from the sky, you can’t let it go!”

Hearing this, the man rubbed his hands happily.Said: "How are the members going to take them?"

Member He thought for a while, and said, "Under Wang Xiaolie's rule, it's not easy to do anything, so we can only follow them all the way south. If they want to go back to Hangzhou, they must take the Yangtze River waterway. Although Zhang Taiwei put down the chaos of Kong Yanzhou in Ezhou, Huang The area around Juzhou and Gwangju is still in a mess. As long as you plan carefully, it will not be difficult to seize the artillery!"

The man said: "It will take a lot of days to get to Ezhou. Outsiders drink."

He Yuanwai nodded, picked up the wine glass, and drank it down.After drinking a few glasses of wine, Congratulator said: "From tomorrow onwards, you two will follow Orihiko. Don't get too close, they have a large team, and it's okay to be a day or two away. I'll go to Suzhou and arrange the manpower .”

The man said: "Yes. Don't worry outsiders, we won't ruin things."

Another man said: "I saw the artillery on the road today. It is very heavy and requires three horses. Even if we seize it, it will be difficult to transport it back to the north."

Member He nodded: "That's right, I think so too. However, I heard from people that this time Zhe Yanzhi brought not only big artillery, but also some small artillery. We can't take the big artillery, and the small artillery is not difficult. The most important thing , together with the artillery, there are gunners and craftsmen. With them, why not make artillery?"

The two men said yes together.

Member He's name is He Ning, who was originally from Yan and was an official in the Khitan Dynasty.After the Jin people destroyed the Khitan, they voted for the Jin army.

It has been nearly 200 years since the land of Youyan was dedicated to Khitan by Shi Jingtang. Not only are Hu and Han mixed there, but the mentality of ordinary Han people is also different from that of the Central Plains.Many of them have no sense of loyalty to the Central Plains dynasty, and are willing to be officials in the Khitan and Jin dynasties.

After the Jin army destroyed the Khitan, the Jurchens were the most trusted, the Yan people were the second, and the Khitans were the third.In the Jin Dynasty, many Yan people served as officials, and some Yan people joined the army, and most of them were trusted by the Jurchens.

After the First World War in Shanzhou, the Jin Army realized the role of artillery and tried every means to get it.They didn't even believe the puppet Qi. If the Jurchens hadn't risen too fast and there were no suitable talents to serve as spies in Han, even the Yan people wouldn't want to use them.

There was no other way, the Jin Dynasty had no choice but to use the Yan people.He Yuanwai was originally Meng'an of the Jin Dynasty, and he made many military exploits after investing in gold.Because he is shrewd and careful in doing things, he was selected by the Jin Dynasty and sent to Wang Xiaolie.The most important task is to steal artillery and go to the Jin Dynasty.However, Wang Xiaolie's defense was too strict, and he never had a chance.Orihiko came to Luoyang to ask for artillery, and He Yuanwai thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so he kept his eyes on it.

Meng'an is known as a thousand households, but the actual command is only a few hundred people.However, in the Jin army, hundreds of people are already a force that cannot be ignored, roughly comparable to the control of Wang Xiaohun's army.Let He Ning go to Luoyang, Jin Jun made great efforts.

He Ning selected seven people and followed him to Luoyang.He only said that he was a businessman who trafficked Beizhu, and he always acted carefully.Although Wang Xiaolie sent people to monitor the people from the north.But He Ning and the others have been doing business honestly, without any flaws.

(End of this chapter)