The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Laosuntou and Laowangtou are two boatmen on the Bianshui River. On weekdays, the two old husbands use their own small boats to carry and deliver goods for short distances to the major market wharves along the river, earning some hard-earned money. However, the day is not too sad.

There was a heavy rain this evening, so the business couldn't be done naturally, so the two old boatmen stole half a day's leisure, docked the boat near the pier, cooked a few white fish that they salvaged at home, and filled it with vegetables After cooking a pot, the two of them sat in the canopy of the boat and listened to the wind and rain outside, had a drink with each other, and started a family routine, and they were quite contented.

After a few drinks, Lao Suntou suddenly felt the boat shake, as if someone had stepped on the bow, and then there were two sounds of 'tuk-tuk' from the boat canopy, it wasn't the sound of wind and rain, but someone was knocking on the canopy.

The old grandson stretched his neck and shouted: "Who is it!"

"Boatman, are you doing business?" The people outside said in a low voice, the voice was indistinct in the wind and rain.

"It's windy and rainy, how do you deliver the goods, the guest officer will wait for the rain to stop before coming back, your goods will get wet, the little old man can't afford it."

Old Suntou got up and was about to lift the curtain to speak, when suddenly the curtain was lifted, and a gust of wind and rain rushed in from outside the warehouse, immediately wet half of Old Suntou's face; He didn't open it, but the old grandson still saw a hand stretched in. It was a hand holding two ingots of gold. The thick hands and short fingers made the ingots of gold extraordinarily large.

Old Wangtou also saw the gold ingot, and he also recognized the words on it. It was a crescent ingot cast by Kaifeng Mansion, which was made of twelve taels and one ingot.

The old grandson opened his mouth wide and was about to speak when a voice from outside said, "Is it enough for these two ingots of gold to buy your two small boats?"

Old Sun opened his mouth and said, "This... how can my broken boat be worth so much."

The voice outside seemed extremely impatient, and asked: "I just ask if you have enough, if you think it is too little, just say, I will buy you two small boats."

The old grandson hesitated and said: "This... the little old man, this boat is already worn out. If you want to buy a boat, why don't you go to the boat workshop at the Hexi Wharf to get a new one? A boat like ours only needs fifty pieces. Two ingots of gold are enough to buy five ships..."

Old Wang covered Old Sun's mouth with his head, and said repeatedly: "Enough is enough, guest officer, I'll betray you."

The people outside turned their palms over, and two ingots of gold fell on the board of the boat with a thud, saying: "Immediately take the gold and leave the boat and go home to sleep. Don't look around, and don't meddle in other people's business. When you wake up, go to the Hexi workshop. Buy a new boat and get on with your business."

The old grandson was still waiting to ask, but the old king grabbed the two ingots of gold and quickly bit them with his teeth. He was sure that they were genuine, and he dragged the old grandson out of the cabin. The clothes are wet.

Standing on the bow of the boat was a stout man in black, wearing a coir raincoat and a bamboo hat, standing with his arms folded. Then he saw forty or fifty black-clothed men standing tall and short on the shore, all of whom lowered their bamboo hats. No one could see their faces; the two boatmen didn't dare to stay for long, they scrambled ashore, trotted all the way to the main road, and ran all the way to Bianhe Street, only then did they dare to turn their heads to look at the river.

I saw that the dozens of men in black had all boarded the boat and entered the cabin, leaving only two people outside holding the long poles to row the boat away from the shore and go all the way downstream.

Old Sun took a breath, wiped the rain from his face and asked Old Wang, "Brother, what's going on, I seem to be dreaming."

Old Wang stuffed a gold ingot into Old Sun's hand and said: "Take it as a dream. This is a gold ingot with 200 taels of gold. It is worth at least [-] guan in copper coins. You almost missed such a good thing. Fortunately, old man I'm still out of my mind."

The old grandson said: "But, I feel a little weird."

Old Wangtou spat: "What do you want to do so much? Let's go to Huitong Yinzhuang on Bianhe Street to exchange for copper coins and buy a new boat to make a living. The rest is just for our sons to marry a wife. Buy, we are willing to sell, what's so weird about it? Don't think about it, don't cause trouble, go home and sleep, and forget about it." The two tremblingly braved the wind and rain and disappeared without a trace.

The two small boats traveled down for less than a mile, and saw the water ahead was turbid, and a tributary gathered the rainwater on the bank and rushed into the Bian River; the dynasty who punted the boat came in and whispered: "Master, it should be This tributary."

Su Jin lifted the curtain and looked at it, nodded and said, "Yes, it's here, can I row up?"

Wang Chao said: "There is a lot of rainwater, and the water is turbulent, but there should be no problem."

Su Jin said: "Go out and help, there are some pennies tied to the side of the boat, use some strength to row up."

Several companions got up quickly, picked up the idle pennies and propped the boat up against the current, crossed the bottom of an arch bridge, and slowly rowed the boat into the small river. The other boat followed closely, and the dim light poured down. The heavy rain made the two boats as invisible as ghosts.

After entering the river, the water flow gradually slowed down, with ancient willows whirling along the river on both sides, and high walls everywhere. It was just outside the backyards of the mansions in Sock Lane, and occasionally there were a few dilapidated houses mixed in, but in this weather, in this evening, The doors and windows must have been closed tightly, presumably he must have had dinner early and gone to bed.

After traveling for two or three miles, two small boats slowly stopped outside an unusually tall wall, which was the high wall in the backyard of Xia's family. Chao Chao looked up, clicked his tongue, and went back into the warehouse and said to Su Jin: "My lord Lord, I'm afraid I can't climb up this wall, not to mention it's covered with moss, and there's no cornice on the top, so I can't catch it even with hooks."

Su Jin said softly: "You can't touch the wall. If you touch the wall, it will leave traces. Even the rain can't cover the traces of moss being trampled. You can go in through the tree by climbing up the trunk."

Wang Chao agreed, and led a few people to slowly row the boat along the wall. The sky was getting darker, and the eyes could no longer see clearly. Although it was difficult to identify, it also gave the two small boats a better camouflage .

Finally, after advancing several hundred steps, Wang Chao found a large branch growing horizontally, with a dark crown, and he didn't know what kind of tree it was.Chao Chao took out the grab rope and stood on the boat and threw it up. He threw it several times because the height was too high, and he didn't even touch the edge of the branch. He cursed angrily.

Su Jin looked around, suddenly his eyes lit up, and he pointed to an ancient willow that grew obliquely and said softly: "Climb up this tree, and you will be at least seven or eight feet taller. Don't throw the hook if it's dark. You can't hook it." Tightness is a bad thing, tie it up with a few penny poles, send a hook and hang it on a tree branch, and you should be able to get it."

Wang Chao immediately started, and ordered people to splice the four pennies together, hang the hook rope on the top of the penny, climb up the willow tree, and slowly stretch the penny upwards. It was extremely difficult to control, Wang Chao raised his arms and held his breath to stretch the penny up inch by inch, the penny wobbled up until it touched the tree trunk and made a slight sound, Wang Dynasty couldn't hold it anymore, the penny broke from it It landed on the river with a bang. Fortunately, the surrounding rain and wind were noisy, and the sound was not too harsh.

Fortunately, although the penny was broken, the hook was actually hanging somewhere on the branch of the tree, and it was not clear whether it was secure or not.

Ma Han volunteered and said: "I climb fast, I will go up first."

Su Jin said softly: "Be careful, after climbing the tree, tie the hook firmly, and pay attention to the movement inside. It is said that there are vicious dogs, so don't disturb the vicious dogs."

Ma Han nodded, rubbed his palms, stretched out his hand to test the firmness of the rope, and then jumped up and climbed into the air like a sensitive ape in three or two steps. Everyone held their breath and looked up, only to see Ma Han climbed higher and higher. The faster it was, when it was about to reach the top, there was a loud 'pop'. Su Jin couldn't help but scream, and saw that the trunk hooked by the rope suddenly broke, and a dark branch fell down. Han's body also fell.

Everyone exclaimed, and saw Ma Han suddenly stretched out his arm, and his arm seemed to have a sudden extra piece, and it caught the end of the broken tree trunk at once. Sitting firmly on the tree trunk.

Zhang Long and Zhao Hu also caught the fallen branch so that it would not overturn the boat.

Su Jin applauded, Ma Han is not a cover, he really has two brushes, his skills are very good, and what is even more rare is that he reacts immediately when he is in danger.

Ma Han took a few breaths, his heart thumping wildly, he fumbled to tie the rope to a thicker branch, and at the same time looked into the yard, it was pitch black, nothing was seen, and there was no sound , so he stretched out his hand and shook the rope a few times, indicating that he was safe.

Su Jin waved his hand and said, "Leave two to guard the boat, and the rest will get on board quickly!"

One by one, everyone climbed up the treetop with the rope, and then put the rope away and hung it on the branch. At the other end, Ma Han had already dropped the rope and slid into the backyard of Xia Mansion.

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