Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 34 Sending Letters
In the courtyard of Liu Fuguo's house, Yang Mingsheng led his five-year-old daughter Xueliu and walked out. Two servants arranged by Liu Fuguo stopped her and said, "Sir, my lord has ordered that you can't go out in the near future!"

Yang Mingsheng was furious, looked at the two of them coldly, and said, "You are a scholar, what is your identity? How dare you stop me! This is Uncle Li who took his little girl to the Longfu Inn, and the little girl misses her very much." , so-and-so is going to visit Brother Li, if you are worried, just go along with a certain one!"

In the eyes of ordinary people in this era, scholars are Wenqu stars descending to earth, god-like existences. Seeing that Yang Mingsheng was angry, the two servants were also disturbed, and they dared not continue to stop them.

Right now Yang Mingsheng led Xueliu in front, followed by two servants, and came out of the courtyard to Longfu Inn.

After arriving at the inn, Yang Mingsheng and his daughter entered the lobby. There were no guests in the inn, only shopkeeper Li was sitting at the counter, dozing off with his chin propped on one hand.

Seeing this scene, Yang Mingsheng smiled slightly, and Xueliu, who looked like pink and jade, ran into the counter cheerfully, stepped on the stool and climbed up the counter, grabbed the shopkeeper Li's beard, and shouted loudly: "There is a thief!" giggled.

Shopkeeper Li suddenly felt a sharp pain in his jaw in his sleep, and heard someone calling for a thief. He woke up in a panic, looked around in a panic, and shouted, "Where is the thief? Where is it? You son of a bitch, come out and catch him!" Thief!"

The store clerk Goudan picked up a rolling pin and ran out from the back kitchen. When he saw Yang Mingsheng and the smiling Xueliu, he immediately understood and hurried forward to salute Yang Mingsheng.

Shopkeeper Li has come to his senses and stroked his beard. Fortunately, Xueliu was weak and didn't tear off a few of them for him. He said to Yang Mingsheng with a wry smile, "Brother Yang Xian, you should take care of Liuliu, that's why." You're so naughty when you're young, why don't you have to go to the house to expose tiles when you grow up?"

Yang Mingsheng smiled and said: "Brother Li, it's not because you got used to it! During the time when you lived here, you treated Xueliu closer than my own father, and I wished that the stars in the sky would be plucked to her too. She runs here almost every day, and Uncle Li talks about it all day long, as a father, I hate you for coming, hahaha!"

Shopkeeper Li is over [-] years old. In his eyes, Xueliu is well-behaved and smart, just like his granddaughter. He loves Xueliu very much on weekdays. Yang Mingsheng can't understand this kind of feeling of being a relative from another generation.

Immediately, he asked Yang Mingsheng to sit down. Seeing the two servants of the Liu Mansion, shopkeeper Li was surprised, and then enthusiastically arranged for the two to sit down at another table, and Goudan went to the kitchen to get some small dishes for Yang Mingsheng and Those two servants.

After the two sat down, Xueliu ran to the kitchen to watch Goudan cook.Shopkeeper Li glanced at Yang Mingsheng, then glanced back. Yang Mingsheng shook his head as a signal, and then Shopkeeper Li found a topic to chat with Yang Mingsheng.

After a while, with a few side dishes and a pot of soju, the two chatted and drank, the two servants ordered two bowls of dough, and started to eat, while Liu Liu and Goudan hid in the kitchen and ate mutton secretly.

A jug of wine quickly bottomed out, and most of it was drank by Yang Mingsheng. His slightly dark face was already black and red, and he was already six or seven points drunk. He yelled for shopkeeper Li to have another pot. The man of today must have other intentions in his actions today, so he brought him another pot.

After Yang Mingsheng had a drink, he sang loudly for a while, and recited poems and odes for a while, full of alcohol, the two servants looked at each other and watched the scene with wry smiles.

When there was half of the second pot of wine left, Yang Mingsheng was full of alcohol, turned to one side of his body, bowed his head and vomited wildly. The smell of wine mixed with the stench of undigested food immediately filled the entire lobby. The two servants covered their noses and frowned, disgusted .

Shopkeeper Li ignored the dirty smell, helped Yang Mingsheng to walk to the guest room in the backyard, and loudly ordered Goudan to bring hot water to the backyard while walking, and the two servants got up and followed closely.

Shopkeeper Li helped Yang Mingsheng, who was already unable to stand, to step out of the back door of the lobby. Before the servants behind him came out, Yang Mingsheng suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes were clear, and he didn't look drunk. A letter was stuffed into Shopkeeper Li's arms, and he said quickly in a low voice: "Try to find a way to deliver this letter to the governor, Mr. Sun, and say that it is related to Mr. Sun's plan to suppress thieves. It must not be known by others. To the lives of our father and daughter!"

At this time, the two servants had already followed out of the lobby. Shopkeeper Li was taken aback for a moment, and without further ado, he helped Yang Mingsheng, who was drunk again, to the guest room, helped him to the bed, took off his shoes and coat, and Yang Mingsheng He turned over and fell asleep soundly, with two servants guarding him, one inside and the other outside.

Shopkeeper Li returned to the lobby. Goudan had already cleaned up Yang Mingsheng's vomit. Liu Liu thought the smell was bad in the house and went to play in the street. Shopkeeper Li came to the back kitchen and looked back to see that there was no one there. Goudan, who was boiling water, called over and said, "Goudan, have you ever been to Xi'an?"

Goudan patted his head and said: "I have never been to Xianyang County since I was a child, let alone Xi'an, shopkeeper, why do you ask this?"

Shopkeeper Li frowned, and when he saw Yang Mingsheng coming to the inn, he knew something was wrong.

Because Yang Mingsheng often came to talk to him, shopkeeper Li was the only person Yang Mingsheng could talk to in Zuowei. Yang Mingsheng felt like a father and brother to him, so shopkeeper Li could feel it.

Today, Yang Mingsheng's performance is very different from the past, and with what he said when he handed over the letter, shopkeeper Li knows the seriousness of the matter.

He was afraid that if he went to Xi'an in person, Liuliu would be left unattended, so he wanted Goudan to take a trip, but he didn't think that Goudan would not be able to recognize the road if he had never traveled far, so it seemed that he had to go there himself.

So he told Goudan that he had to go out for a while. When outsiders came to ask, he said that he went to Xianyang to buy the daily necessities of the inn. Don't say anything else. After repeated instructions, shopkeeper Li put on the carriage and went to Xi'an.

After more than an hour, shopkeeper Li drove the carriage to the outside of Xi'an.

After depositing the carriage in a hotel outside the city, shopkeeper Li entered the city gate and asked about the location of the governor's office while walking. After half an hour, he came to the square of Fuya.

There were few passers-by in the wide square, and eight guards stood on each side of the majestic yamen, holding the handle of the knife at their waists, without looking sideways.

Seeing this scene, shopkeeper Li couldn't help feeling afraid.

He is just the shopkeeper of an inn. Although he is more knowledgeable than ordinary people, he has a deep-rooted fear of officials. He is intimidated by a headhunter in a county, let alone a border guard like the governor. official.

He walked back and forth, wanting to get closer but not daring, not going forward because he was afraid of delaying the important matter entrusted by Yang Mingsheng, and he was extremely entangled in his heart.

The guards on duty had noticed him a long time ago, seeing him wandering around in front of the yamen, a guard came over and shouted loudly: "The governor's yamen is an important place, anyone who has nothing to do is waiting to leave!"

Shopkeeper Li's face turned pale with fright, he turned around and walked a few steps before leaving.

But thinking of Yang Mingsheng's expectant eyes, he gritted his teeth, turned around, bowed his hands and bowed to the guard, and said, "This general, the grassroots are entrusted by others, there is something important to do." Please see the governor about the matter, and invite this general to go in and talk to the governor!"

As he spoke, he took out a dime of broken silver from his pocket, and handed it over with a flattering face.

The guard looked at the broken silver in his hand, tilted his head, squinted his eyes upwards, and said proudly: "What important things can you do as a commoner? Not everyone can see Sun Futai, go fast, go fast, don't go away again I'll catch you and eat you!"

Shopkeeper Li saw him like this, so he had to say what Yang Mingsheng told him: "Caomin brought a letter to the governor. The person who wrote the letter said it was a matter of suppressing thieves. Here it is, you can hand it over to the governor!"

After speaking, he took out the letter from his pocket and handed it to the guard.

When the guard heard about the important matter of suppressing the thieves, he was startled. After seeing the envelope, he knew that the matter was of great importance, because even people like him who came out of the capital could not read, let alone ordinary people.

Those who can write letters are, of course, literati, and matters concerning literati are important matters to them, and they are blind and unworthy of knowing.

After receiving the letter, he turned around and ran to Fuya, stopped after running a few steps, turned around and shouted at shopkeeper Li: "Stand here and don't move, if you want to ask me in person, sir, you have to Go in and answer! Stand still!"

The guard trotted into Fuya, and the other guards on duty separated into two to look at shopkeeper Li.

Sun Chuanting wrote a letter to Hong Chengchou after writing a case in the public room.

After all, the governors of the five provinces are his immediate superiors. Although he has no right to deprive him of his official position, if he, the governor, offends the governor, if he is referred to him in the last memorial, the court will of course favor the one with a higher official position.

In addition to expressing his admiration for the governor, Sun Chuanting also mentioned that he was new here and his heels were not stable, so he could not give Hong Chengchou more help for the time being.

But in a year or even less time at most, he will provide greater assistance to Hong Chengchou from military force to food and salary. At that time, the two will work together to wipe out all the thieves in Shaanxi.

After writing the letter, it was about to be handed over to the book office for sealing and then sent to Hong Chengchou in northern Shaanxi. The guard on duty rushed in, saluted on one knee and said, "Report! Someone from outside the office sent a letter, saying it was about suppressing Regarding the matter of thieves, here is the letter, please read it, my lord!"

When Sun Chuanting heard about the important event of suppressing thieves, he couldn't help but pay attention to it. He asked the guards to present the letter, and he opened the envelope to look at it.

In the letter, Yang Mingsheng described in detail Liu Fuguo's advice and his offer of advice, and suggested that Sun Chuanting use his advice and take the opportunity to capture the senior officials of the Three Guards. The wealth accumulated by these people is enough for him to build an army and suppress bandits.

The letter also explained that the reason why he turned against Shui Dongweng was because his beloved wife was killed by the thief. He knew that only the imperial court army could wipe out the thief and avenge him for killing his wife.

He knew that when the governor first arrived in Shaanxi, he had no money to recruit soldiers, and the one who could make up his mind to attack the guard must be a great talent who was not afraid of slander, which gave him hope.

All the guards in the Weisuo robbed and embezzled the public property of the imperial court. This time, the imperial court just took it back.

He suggested that the Governor make a quick cut to get rid of this hidden danger, and take this as an opportunity to give the people of Shaanxi hope of survival.

Sun Chuanting finished reading the letter, pondered for a while, and asked, "Has the person who sent the letter ever returned? If he is still there, ask him to come and ask questions!"

The guard replied: "My lord, the messenger is still there, because I am afraid that my lord will ask questions, I have ordered someone to guard him, I will go out and let him in!"

After Sun Chuanting nodded, the guard turned around and came out. After a while, shopkeeper Li was brought in tremblingly. The guard shouted: "Kneel down, the Governor has something to ask you!"

Shopkeeper Li entered the lobby, shocked by the majestic atmosphere, his head was so low that it almost touched the ground, his legs were weak, and he was sweating all over. Hearing this, he hurriedly fell to his knees and kowtowed.

Sun Chuanting said kindly, "Where are you from? What is the relationship between you and the person who wrote the letter? Please tell me the ins and outs of this matter in detail, and get up and answer!"

Shopkeeper Li’s legs were so weak that he couldn’t stand up anymore. Two guards stepped forward to support him. I run an inn, and the person who wrote the letter was once taken in by the little one.”

Speaking of Zuo Wei who opened the inn, Sun Chuanting looked carefully and laughed suddenly: "Hahaha, it's you! I have met you once before, no wonder your voice is familiar, come on, give it to him." Take a seat!"

Shopkeeper Li also thought that Sun Chuanting's voice seemed to have been heard before, and after hearing the words, he took a bold look at Sun Chuanting and exclaimed in surprise: "So it's you, the guest officer, where is the other guest officer?"

Sun Chuanting laughed loudly and said: "He has other important matters. It's true that we don't meet again in life, haha! I never imagined that I could see my old friend today! Come, come, sit down and talk!"

Seeing that it was a customer he had dealt with before, and he had kindly reminded him, shopkeeper Li immediately relaxed.

He didn't sit on the chair brought by the guards, but wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said: "There is no seat for villains in front of adults. Feel free to ask if you have anything to say. The little ones know everything. Just now The villain was terrified! To tell you the truth, when I saw him at the inn that day, the villain saw that he was extraordinary, so I reminded him kindly. I didn’t expect him to be such a great official. Fortunately!"

Seeing that he didn't want to sit down, Sun Chuanting didn't force it, so he smiled and said, "Master Li, who is the person who wrote the letter? How do you know him?"

Shopkeeper Li calmed down, and then explained in detail how to take in Yang Mingsheng's father and daughter, why he went to Liu Fu's country to be a teacher, how Yang Mingsheng pretended to be drunk and asked him to deliver letters today, etc. in detail.

After hearing this, Sun Chuanting had a very good impression of Yang Mingsheng, he is a useful talent.

He said to the shopkeeper Li in a gentle voice: "Since you have come to deliver letters in the name of purchasing, then I will not keep you. Remember, no one will know about this trip, and I will send someone to buy some inn needs for you. After loading the car, you rush back to the guard immediately, it's still early, you won't attract attention when you go back, if there is fate in the future, you and I will meet again!"

Sun Chuanting ordered the guards to take shopkeeper Li out through the back door, and sent people to buy goods and send them to the place outside the city where he kept the carriage. He said that they were delivered by people from the commercial firm, and shopkeeper Li left. carry.

It was about Shen Shi when shopkeeper Li returned to the guard.

He drove the carriage to the backyard, beckoned Goudan to unload the goods, and took the opportunity to ask in a low voice who came after he left, Goudan whispered that no one came, and Yang Mingsheng took Liu Liu back to Liu's house after waking up. Nothing happened in between.

Shopkeeper Li was relieved now. After being nervous for a long time, he went to Xi'an again. He was exhausted physically and mentally. After he relaxed, he suddenly felt tired. He ordered Goudan to close the door of the inn after unloading the goods, and he went back. The inner courtyard went to rest.

Yang Mingsheng took Liuliu back to the small courtyard of Liu's house. The two servants left one to guard and the other to report to Liu Fuguo.

Liu Fuguo heard that Yang Mingsheng took his daughter to the Longfu Inn and got drunk. After sleeping soundly all afternoon, Liu Fuguo didn't care. He just ordered that Yang Mingsheng be strictly guarded and that Yang Mingsheng was not allowed to have contact with strangers.

(End of this chapter)