Infinite Brilliant Scroll

Chapter 15 Guangzhou City, Huaguang Festival

Arhat and the others have always placed their hopes of intercepting and besieging outside the city of Guangzhou, because once a person at the level of a big boxer enters the complex terrain of the city and hides intentionally, it is almost impossible to be searched by ordinary soldiers and horses.

Rivers, pavilions, high walls, and houses are obstacles everywhere for ordinary people, blocking their actions and blocking their sight, but to the great boxers, they are like walking on flat ground, extending in all directions.

When the sky was getting brighter and a red sun was slowly rising among the sea of ​​clouds in the east, those soldiers who were searching wantonly died down and stopped doing useless work.

All the troops that could be mobilized by Luo Han and the others were transferred back to the south for defense.

After Nalando heard what happened at night, he felt uneasy and asked Luohan to meet him.

Arhat entered the mansion alone and explained his intentions.

"These rebels want to come to Guangzhou because they must have taken a fancy to Guangzhou's water transportation convenience. They want to use this way to go overseas. For the current plan, they only have to guard the waterway, and maybe they can gain something."

Nalando nodded slightly when he heard this, sipped his tea and said, "The ones at the sticky pole of your Internal Affairs Office have the most dealings with the rebels, so naturally you know them well enough, but that green-faced ghost has been in three cities and seven villages for several years. The method of doing things is also very different from that of ordinary rebellious parties. Since he has arrived in Guangzhou, I am afraid that he will be disadvantageous to the wealthy businessmen and some court officials in the city."

Luo Han thought: "The top priority of the coach is to send the roster away. Since the green-faced ghost chooses to go with the coach, he must also be influenced by the coach."

"Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just in case."

Nalando said worriedly, "Guangzhou City is not like the rural areas of the Three Cities and Seven Townships. There are high officials of the imperial court sitting here. If they are also assassinated by him, it will definitely make the imperial court look bad. Those rebellious parties are probably happy to see it." It's done."

Luo Han heard what he meant, and said smoothly: "In Guangzhou, Master Nalan is the most important thing. I will immediately send those boxers and some sticky staff to the General's Mansion to protect His Excellency. "

Nalando pretended to hesitate and said: "But this way, it is inevitable that the troops will be thinned. If the two traitors really show up at that time, I wonder if you can deal with it?"

"Don't worry, my lord. Now our focus is only on the two sides. Besides, if they want to travel overseas, they must show up on board during the day. As long as we can find out, encirclement with heavy troops during the day is better than the situation at night." , which is very different.”

Luo Han said, "The coach only escaped from 200 people that day, and they were all injured. Today, thousands of troops have been deployed in the daytime. Moreover, the location of the two sides is clear and they are mutual aid. The result can be imagined."

"That's fine, that's fine."

Nalan Duo's goal was achieved, and he felt a little relieved, and then he remembered, "I heard that some masters at the sticky pole were unfortunately lost to those two rebels? This official ordered them to be buried with honor. "

It doesn't matter if I don't mention it, it's been delayed until now, and I still want to mention it incidentally. Luohan couldn't help but lower his eyebrows, and said stiffly: "The traitors are still on the run. It's not a shame to bury them at this time." Besides, those of us have long been prepared to be loyal to the imperial court, and with the grace of the palace, their corpses will be transported back to the capital for burial."

Nalando saw that his mood was actually very gloomy, and he didn't want to delay here any longer, so he said a few words of condolences and resignation, and got up knowingly to send him out of the house.

After returning to the living room, Huangshan Maofeng, the favorite of the past, drank in his mouth, and it seemed dull.

After sitting alone for a long time, Nalando put his palm in front of his lips, breathed out, and a stench rushed back into his nostrils. Without the moisture of the tea, he pursed his lips slightly, and the smell of blood came from the roots of his teeth. open.

The taste is really unpleasant, and it's fine if you don't pay attention to it, once you notice it, you will feel a dull pain in your mouth full of teeth. Nalando has invited many doctors to treat this tooth problem, but it is useless.

I went to see a Western doctor two years ago, and they said it was a problem of too much sugar in the blood and urine. The foreigner told him not to eat meat or eggs, not to touch alcohol, and even to eat less rice, so as to control the disease a little, otherwise Not only the problems on the teeth will not be cured, but any cracks on the body will not heal for a long time, and will shorten the life.

Although Nalando has already lived to be almost 50 years old, which is longer than [-]% to [-]% of the people in the Qing Dynasty, he still cherishes his life.

For the sake of his own life, he has thought about taboos, but sitting in this seat, he has a lot to worry about. According to his habit for many years, he eats and drinks when he is happy, and has to worry about it when he is unhappy. Only by eating and drinking can you dispel the depression and injustice in your heart. How can this disease be controlled?

Sometimes colleagues or even people from the palace invite him to a banquet, can he still refuse?
Recently, Nalan Duo has seen through it that the Qing Dynasty is becoming more and more turbulent, and the momentum of the chaotic party is getting bigger and bigger every time. I am afraid that the Beiyang New Army also has some disobedience.

Instead of occupying such a position and waiting until troubled times come, it is better to save enough money earlier and take a large number of family members of the nursing home to hide overseas.

The foreigners heard that the land is vast and sparsely populated, some of them are from good families, and they can run horses in the garden, and groups of foreigners and doctors follow and serve them, isn't it beautiful!

However, Nalando understands a truth better, whether it is a foreigner or a Qing Dynasty, there are some rules that cannibalize people in the open and in the dark, especially for outsiders like him, it is useless to rely on courtyard guards and guns, and they must have a background contacts.

For this reason, Nalando actively interacted with many British people. Seymour, who lives in the mansion now, his uncle was the first commander of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces, and his background was strong enough. The relationship network established by the British is almost the same.

"Come on!"

Nalando thought of this, and called people in, "How is the search for that ancient painting going? Didn't Li Duo say there was news two days ago?"

Li Duo is an aide in Nalando's residence, and the servants usually call him Master.

"Master Li has already identified who owns the painting, and said that he will talk to someone today."

Nalando asked again: "In whose hands?"

"I heard it's Baoshengtang Ma's house."

Nalan Duo patted the armrest of the grand master's chair under his seat, and said, "Okay, since we've found out, let's go to the foreigners and let us know. They've been waiting for so long, so it's time for us to give some definite news."

"Yes."

After his subordinates retreated, Nalando picked up the teacup and took a sip.

He was the only one left in the room, and he said with a smile to himself: "A few foreigners don't play with guns, but learn to look at ancient paintings like old scholars, heh, leave him alone, it's better than asking the official directly for money." .”

Nalando's original intention was to give news to those foreigners, so as not to make them lose their patience.

But Dimon Seymour paid more attention to that painting than Nalando expected.

As soon as he got the news, Seymour put down his half-drinked morning tea, urged people to lead the way, and went to Baoshengtang with his guard.

The Ma family of Baoshengtang is quite well-known in Guangzhou. It is said that it has a history of nearly a hundred years. It has been passed down to the hands of Ma Baiwen and Ma Zhixing, father and son, which has added a lot of good reputation to this family business.

Both father and son are very accomplished in medical skills, especially Ma Zhixing, who has studied abroad in the West, and after returning, he used Western medicine and Chinese medicine together, and he actually cured several serious illnesses that his father could not cure.

It's just that his father hated things from foreigners, so he had a rift with Ma Zhixing for a long time, and he was only willing to let him into the house this year.

When Dimon Seymour and the others were half a street away from Baoshengtang, they heard a gunshot.

The person leading the way felt his body being pulled by the wind suddenly, and when he turned his head to look, the two foreigners following him had disappeared.

When Dimon Seymour and Mai Boer rushed to the place where the gunshot was fired, they smelled a bloody smell coming out of the door.

In the front yard, several soldiers were standing there at a loss, and there were two dead bodies lying in the living room, both of them were old men wearing melon caps, long robes and jackets.

One of them was lying on the ground with water and blood on his face and a gunshot wound. It was Li Duo, the master of the General's Mansion.

Another was sitting on a chair with a dagger stuck in his chest, bleeding profusely.

Seymour glanced over and saw broken porcelain on the ground, as well as a pistol dropped under the steps, and asked, "What's going on here?"

These soldiers often walked around the general's mansion, knowing that these two foreigners were the general's distinguished guests, they dared not neglect and rushed to answer.

Their voices were messy, mixed with dialects, and they spoke eagerly. Seymour frowned tightly, but couldn't understand a word, and shouted: "Shut up."

He pointed to a soldier on the far left and said, "Speak first, speak slowly."

The soldier was taken aback by his shout, and when those green eyes looked over, he felt even more inexplicably tense all over, and stuttered for a while before straightening out his tongue.

Seymour listened to him and figured out what had happened.

After Li Duo brought people to the door, he talked about the Ma family's collection of ancient paintings, and then pretended to be a general's mansion, asking to buy their painting at a low price.

People under the eaves had to bow their heads. Hearing that Nalando wanted it, Ma Baiwen was ready to swallow his anger and ask his son to take out the painting, but he asked one more question, why did Nalando suddenly appreciate it? Calligraphy and painting?

After all, everyone in Guangzhou knows that this Guangzhou general doesn't like writing and ink.Spending so much time inquiring about the whereabouts of an ancient painting and coming to his door is not like his past style.

At that time, Li Duo was probably thinking that the job he had given him was about to be completed, and he could still get some kickbacks. He was in a good mood, so he truthfully told the British about the painting.

Unexpectedly, when Ma Baiwen heard that it was a foreigner who wanted to paint, he was furious and refused to sell it. During the dispute, he even smashed Li Duo's head with a teacup.

Li Duo's head was bleeding, and his face was flushed red from the hot tea, so he got angry, drew out his dagger and stabbed Ma Baiwen to death.

This scene happened to be seen by Ma Zhixing, who brought the ancient painting, and he didn't know why he had a gun on him, so he shot Li Duo on the spot.

After the nearest soldier shot down his pistol, Ma Zhixing fled.

While the soldiers staying behind were talking, those soldiers who were chasing people also ran back.

They lost Ma Zhixing.

The gunshots attracted more soldiers, and the Baosheng Hall was sealed off. Luohan sent someone to take a look.

The housekeeper of the General's Mansion arrived and assured Seymour that he would capture Ma Zhixing and present the ancient painting.

"Don't bother you."

Seymour raised his hand, stopped the butler from talking, and said, "Please help me to ask, does anyone know which room the son of this family lives in?"

The apprentice who helped grab the medicine in Baoshengtang was quickly locked up and brought over tremblingly, and pointed out Ma Zhixing's room.

Dimon Seymour walked in by himself, and Mai Boer blocked the door and did not allow others to approach.

The butler of the general's mansion could only watch from outside the door.

Dimon Seymour walked around the house, and there was no sign of searching, but he would stand for a while every time he walked to the table, wardrobe, and bed.

The morning sun hadn't fully shone into the room yet, Dimon Seymour stood in a somewhat shady and dark place, lifted up the gauze against flying insects, and looked down at the bed.

The butler felt that he might be a little dazzled. When Seymour raised his hand and lowered his head just now, he suddenly seemed to see fine lines like herring scales on the Englishman's neck.

Extending from the neck to behind the ears, it flickers and disappears.

………………

Qingshan half enters the city, and all six veins lead to the sea.

Guangzhou is surrounded by mountains and rivers. There are big rivers outside the city, and there are rivers all over the city.

There is a saying that one tenth of the people in Guangzhou live on the water, and the only property they have is a small boat. They rely on the cabin for food and living, and rely on the plank for their living expenses, or they drift and fish on the Pearl River. , or carry passengers and cargo in the small river.

Just like what I saw in the three cities and seven villages, the outside of the city is desolate, dilapidated and simple, but the city is much better, at least it looks like this on the outside.

But Diancheng, Tancheng, and Heyang combined, their prosperity is far from enough to be compared with Guangzhou City.

When the sun gradually warmed up, the city of Guangzhou was crowded with people. On the streets, big and small, there were wizards bound with ropes and wearing masks dancing, leading the procession, and there were monks chanting sutras, Taoist priests ringing bells, and walking around the gates of each house. Before putting down the paper boat, wait for the owner to put some sawdust and grass residue into it.

The faces of the common people were full of the rough and sorrow caused by the wind, frost and night rain, but they were also affected by the atmosphere, and they showed some lively smiles in the sunshine.

The children even walked around on the street, holding some worthless gadgets in their hands, some of which were just a piece of shabby red cloth, but they also laughed happily.

The instructor squatted by a small river, looking at the scene on the street.

Guan Luoyang handed over the steaming steamed buns, squatted down beside him, and said, "Is today a holiday?"

The instructor said: "Not only today, September [-]rd to September [-]th is Huaguang's birthday. Everyone has a hard time on weekdays, but in these few days, they can even make a fuss."

"So it's Hua Guang's birthday." Guan Luoyang nodded.

In fact, there will be Huaguang Festival in the three cities and seven townships, but it will only be held on the [-]th and [-]th, and it is far less lively. It is just that there are troupes singing for two days.

The instructor bit the steamed bun: "It's not the busiest time yet. A few days ago, it was just dancing gods to drive away ghosts. I hope there will be no fires. On the day of the [-]th, the statue of Master Huaguang will return to its place, and the dragon and lion dance will be performed. At night, there are torches and lights everywhere.

There are trick performers everywhere on the street, and all the Liyuan children who regard Emperor Huaguang as their patriarch must get up to [-]% energy, open the gongs to worship the gods, and sing their voices on the stage. "

At this point, a small boat passed near the two of them. The man on the boat was bare-chested and wrapped in a turban. He looked to be over 40 years old, but he might actually be in his early thirties. He sang twice and couldn't hear clearly. The tone of the lyrics.

Guan Luoyang looked for the sound, and unconsciously smiled.

A child in the cabin was holding only one yellowed candied haws, and carefully licked it with the tip of his tongue. He quickly closed his mouth and smiled, and wrapped the candied haws again.

Guan Luoyang, who had just been soaked in the atmosphere with some joy, saw this scene, and the smile on his face slowly faded again.

He suddenly felt uncomfortable squatting and sat down.

Both sides of the small river are paved with stone bricks, which are much higher than the water surface. There are bamboo sheds behind it and several pavilions with cornices. Sometimes tourists wait for boats and unload goods here, which can provide shade and shelter from the rain.

Sitting like this, Guan Luoyang's feet could barely reach the surface of the water, and the heel of his right foot was still broken. He said, "The time you made an appointment is September [-]th, right?"

The instructor hummed.

It's not hard to guess, September [-]th is the busiest time, and it's naturally the safest time to choose a joint.

"But in this case, I don't have enough food money to last until that day."

During the assassination a few years ago, Guan Luoyang sometimes rummaged through the purses of the target. Bank notes were not acceptable, so he saved up some scraps of silver, most of which were left at Tian Gongyu's place.

Guan Luoyang said, "I'll go and see if there's any work to do in the afternoon."

After the instructor finished eating the steamed buns, he rubbed the crumbs on his hands into the water mixed with sweat, finally clapped his hands and said, "No hurry, let's go to the appointed place to have a look today, in case we meet No matter what happens, the time will not be delayed because of the unfamiliar terrain."

"Huh? Let me go too?"

"of course."

(End of this chapter)