Fenghou

Chapter 34 Strange Stones
The retreat of the Song Army alarmed the people of the whole county. Tens of thousands of people in Linyou County came to see the Song Army farewell with their families and children.

Chen Qing had already repeatedly told the people in the city that they had to leave. They had too few troops to defend Linyou County. Once the Jin soldiers captured Linyou County, they would definitely slaughter the city.

Only if they leave first, Linyou County will be spared from the catastrophe.

Although the common people could understand their evacuation, when the day of evacuation came, tens of thousands of people in Linyou County cried loudly, knelt on the ground and refused to let them go.

Dozens of elders knelt in front of Chen Qing's horse and cried loudly, "When the general leaves, we will all be reduced to pigs and sheep, who will protect us!"

Chen Qing's eyes were red.

"Fathers and folks, please rest assured, I promise I will definitely come back!"

Amidst all the crying, the team went further and further away, tens of thousands of people gradually turned into a small black spot, which really made Chen Qing very sad, when will he come back?
According to the trend of history, this departure should be a farewell. Can I change history?

After walking for several miles, the team stopped again, and Zhao Xiaoyi shouted: "It's the owner of the museum!"

Chen Qing saw Xu Ning on the side of the road. He took a few apprentices and bid farewell to the soldiers. He was not only the instructor of the recruits, but also Chen Qing's cavalry and archery teacher, leading Chen Qing into the gate of cavalry and archery.

He has been recommended by the county gentry as the new county magistrate, and has taken over the county magistrate's seal from Wei Qing.

Chen Qing got off his horse, stepped forward quickly and said, "I didn't expect to see Master Xu again before leaving!"

"The archery hall has been closed, you will call me county magistrate Xu from now on!"

Xu Ning said bitterly: "Although I really don't want to be this fake county magistrate, but for the people of Linyou County, my personal honor and disgrace are no longer important."

"Senior endured the humiliation, and I will definitely explain the situation to the Xuanfu envoy."

"Actually, it doesn't matter, I just need to have a clear conscience!"

Xu Ning said again: "Although the commander's riding and shooting has barely reached the second level, it is still a bit inferior compared to famous generals such as Liu Ziyu and Yue Fei. The key is practice. Practice makes perfect. With the commander's understanding and foundation, as long as If you persevere, you will continue to improve in riding and shooting!"

Chen Qing said sincerely: "Chen Qing will remember every word of the senior!"

Xu Ning laughed, "There is nothing wrong with remembering what I said, come! I will offer a glass of wine to the Commander, and wish the Commander to make new achievements!"

Xu Ning took a glass of wine from his apprentice and brought it to Chen Qing. Chen Qing took the glass with both hands and drank it down.

"Senior, we will meet later!"

Xu Ning bowed solemnly with his severed hand, "Commander, we will meet later!"

Several apprentices followed the master to bid farewell to the soldiers.

Chen Qing got on his horse, clasped his fists in salute, bid farewell to Xu Ning, and the team headed west.

…………

Longzhou Qianyuan County, which is the second largest county in Longzhou, has a relatively remote terrain and has not been ruined by the Jin soldiers.

At noon that day, in a restaurant next to the city gate of Liyuan County, two men sat drinking together.

One of them was obviously drunk, and he said in a long-winded manner: "To tell you the truth, my old man used to hold a birthday party, and it was full of guests. Senior officials from Longzhou and Pingliang prefectures had to come to join him. Now the master wants to keep a low profile. Ten birthdays, but less than a hundred invitations were sent out.”

The thin young man on the opposite side is Zhao Xiaoyi. He is currently the deputy head of the scout battalion and is Zheng Ping's subordinate. He came to Liyuan County to carry out an important task.

The drunk man was called Jiang Fu, a small butler of the Jiang family, a large family in Longzhou. He was also from Linyou County, and he was from the same town as Zhao Xiaoyi.

Zhao Xiaoyi deliberately flattered the guests, and in just a few days, the two talked about everything.

"I wonder what hobbies your master has?" Zhao Xiaoyi filled a glass of wine and asked with a smile.

"Hobby? Let me think about it. By the way, my master likes stones and is very obsessed. When he was young, he often went to Bianliang to buy stones. The backyard of the mansion is full of his stone treasures."

"Where does your grandpa hold his birthday, Siyuan County or Siyang County?"

"Of course it's Siyang County, the prefecture's capital. There's also a mansion there. We'll be leaving in a few days."

Zhao Xiaoyi calculated the time in his mind, and it was time for him to go south.

Jiankuo Pass is located on Jiankuo Ridge, about [-] miles south of Siyang County. Jiankuo Ridge has a relatively high terrain, and there is a canyon that is more than ten miles long in the middle. The narrowest part of the canyon is only [-] feet, so the Song army built a pass city at the narrowest point, which is Jianbai Pass.

Jiandaoguan actually has only two city walls, north and south, one mile apart, with cliffs on the east and west sides.

The interior of Guancheng is narrow and long, but it is actually not that big. It only covers an area of ​​more than [-] acres. But although the sparrow is small, it has all kinds of internal organs. There are not only military camps, warehouses, but also a tile house surrounded by wooden fences. There are more than a dozen people inside. A wooden house, brothels, hotels, inns, gambling halls, grocery stores, etc. are all available.

Arrowhead Pass is such a dangerous military city, where at most a thousand Song soldiers were stationed there.

But it was such a dangerous pass. When the golden soldiers and iron cavalry came, the guard general Wang Lian led his army out of the city to surrender, and handed over the pass to the golden men for nothing.

At present, there are more than [-] troops stationed in the pass. In addition to the [-] Han troops, there are also [-] Jurchen soldiers.

The task of the Jurchen soldiers was to monitor these Han soldiers. Regardless of their patrolling, the daily patrolling was handed over to the Han army.

At present, caravans are also allowed to pass through the pass, but the number of each caravan is not allowed to exceed ten people, and they are not allowed to carry any weapons. Once found, they will be executed on the spot.

According to the nature of the Jurchens, the military pass must not allow merchants to pass through the border, but merchants are not allowed to pass through the border, and the soldiers of the Han army have no salary. What do they live on?
Therefore, after Wanyan Loushi began to explore Shaanxi three years ago, he also combined the actual situation of Shaanxi Road and Qinfeng Road to set the rules for merchants to pass the customs. There are three main rules. The first is the number of people. The caravan cannot exceed ten people; The second is the weapon restriction, and it is not allowed to carry weapons to pass the customs; the third is the time limit, and it is not allowed to pass the customs at night.

Of course, there are still some details. For example, the entrance and exit gates of the pass city are not allowed to be opened at the same time. They can only close one door and open the other.

These regulations also apply to Jiandao Pass. The defenders of Jiandao Pass have nothing to do every day, and what they look forward to most is the arrival of caravans.

At noon that day, a black and fat middle-aged man rode a donkey and galloped towards the south gate of Jiandao Pass. The soldiers all poked their heads out.

"Dutou, here comes a fat guy!"

Another soldier said: "Look at the dress, like the butler of a rich family!"

"Running in such a hurry, as if they were here to make an outpost, with the mouse dragging the wooden wedge, and the big head behind!"

The soldiers' eyes are very poisonous, you basically guessed the identity and origin of the middle-aged fat man.

The man wears a black satin deep coat and an octagonal hat. This kind of dress is either a big shopkeeper or a big housekeeper. He has a certain status, but his status is not high. If he has money, he can only wear black clothes.

"Who are you?" The defenders asked with their heads on the top of the wall.

The middle-aged man was sweating profusely, jumped off the donkey, and shouted, "I am the head of the Jiang family in Liyuan County. My surname is Wang. I have a big and expensive item to pass. Let me say hello first."

Everyone in Longzhou knew that the Jiang family in Siyuan County ranked second among the three major families in Longzhou, second only to the Siyang Wang family, with hundreds of hectares of land alone. The original Longzhou Sima Jiang Huan was the eldest son of the Jiang family.

Hearing that it was a member of the Jiang family, they didn't dare to be negligent, and ordered Kaicheng to let the middle-aged steward come in.

Not long after, the steward was brought to the tower, and the defenders all asked, "What big thing needs to be passed?"

The chief steward lowered his voice and said, "It was brought from Bianliang, Tokyo, the emperor's treasure, a stone."

"A broken stone, or the emperor's treasure?"

"The general doesn't know, doesn't the emperor just like to play with this kind of tune? It's the Taihu stone that was transported to Bianliang from the south of the Yangtze River. To tell you the truth, my old man also likes to play with this kind of strange stone. This is to show filial piety to his old man and spend a lot of money on it." Bought from Bianliang, it was transported to Guanzhong after untold hardships, hey! If Bianjing hadn’t been breached by Jin soldiers, how could our old man have the opportunity to play with the emperor’s things!”

A soldier next to him said: "I know, it's Hua Shigang!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! It is Huashigang. It will cost tens of thousands of taels of silver to transport a strange stone from Jiangnan to Tokyo."

My head is tempted, tens of thousands of taels of silver, this means that I will have an income today, no matter what the Jiang family and Wang family are, they will have to pluck their hair when the geese pass.

"As long as it is not transporting weapons, general goods can pass the customs, but Manager Wang should also know the rules of customs clearance."

"I know the rules, how much tax do I have to pay?"

"The highest tax is fifty guan, calculated according to the value of [-] guan, and then the tea fee is [-] guan, your thing is tens of thousands of taels of silver, the tax is already very low."

"It can't be calculated like this. The emperor spent tens of thousands of taels of silver, and there are a lot of hypocrisy in it, but we only spent two thousand taels of money, so we should pay twenty taels of tax!"

They all shook their heads, "I'm afraid not!"

The steward pulled Du's head aside, and said in a low voice: "Why don't you do this! I'll give the general ten taels of silver, including the money for tea, and the general will decide how much tax he has to pay."

This is a typical case of harming the public and benefiting the private, so everyone nodded happily, "This is just this one time, don't make another example!"

The steward quickly handed him a piece of silver, and everyone weighed his head, it was about ten taels.

He put it into his arms and said loudly to the soldiers: "Pay the tax first, the value of the goods is two thousand guan, pay the tax of [-] guan!"

Not long after, a family of flatbed carts pulled by more than a dozen mules slowly drove towards the city gate. There were ten men on both sides to help push the cart. On the cart was a huge stone weighing seven to eight thousand catties.

Du headed out of the city, lifted the oilcloth on the stone, looked up and down, and couldn't help but widen his eyes, "You are so fucking funny, this is also called a strange stone? This kind of stone is everywhere in the mountains and plains!"

The steward smiled, "The general doesn't understand, it's called Xishan Journey Stone, which is exactly the same as the picture of Xishan Journey drawn by the great painter Fan Kuan. number one."

"Oh! There's still this kind of saying. I, a big boss, can't understand it. Let's pass it!"

At this moment, a general rushed over with dozens of soldiers, all of them were startled, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "The last general will see the commander!"

(End of this chapter)