Daming kill

Chapter 99 The Story on the Water
Li Ping didn't realize it by taking the wife's route and messing things up.

Moreover, many things in this world are difficult to judge by right or wrong. At least Li Ping has received a considerable reward, and it is too early to conclude that familiarity is more important than familiarity.

On the third day of coming to Xiangyang, Li Ping decided to go around because there was nothing important to do and just waited. After all, it was not easy to come here, and he was still very curious about this era.

When he went to Fancheng yesterday, Li Ping noticed that there were a large number of new boats docked on the side of the river near Fancheng. Those were all new boats built by Zuo Liangyu, and they were so densely packed that he couldn't see the end, which gave him a lot of trouble. shock.

However, because he was on his way and didn't take a closer look at it, today he wanted to take a closer look at it, so as to gain some understanding of the water power of this era.

On this trip, he didn't wear any armor. He only wore a majestic dark suit, a big black hat, and a Yanling knife on his waist.

Hu Zhongshan didn't wear armor either, but was wearing a brown robe; but He Zhuzi and the four guards were all wearing cotton armor, so safety and aura were still required.

After riding out of Xiangyang City on horseback, Li Ping realized that they needed to find a boat to cross the river by themselves.Today is a private event, and naturally there will be no special boats to pick them up when crossing the river, and Hu Zhongshan didn't expect this.

It would take too much time to find someone to arrange it now, so Li Ping decided to ask He Zhuzi to hire a boat nearby.

As a result, He Zhuzi went away for a long time before he came back and reported: The larger ships in the vicinity are private ships of officials and generals, and merchant ships do not dock here, or they are in Fancheng on the other side, but most of them are only in the distance. It is far away from the east pier; if you want to borrow the private boats of officials and generals, you have to discuss with the people in charge first, and the people on the boat have no control over them; other than that, you can only hire fishermen and ferry boatmen our boat.

Li Ping thought for a while, seeing the sky was far away, and there was no wind, so a smaller boat would not be in any danger, so he decided to just take a small boat, since it would be too much trouble to find a big boat.

He Zhuzi quickly found the boat on a wooden trestle deep into the river. He said that the boats were actually not as small as he imagined. They were bigger than the boats that Li Ping usually understood could only accommodate three or four people. Not a lot.

Li Ping thought wildly, maybe this is because the Han River is wide, and it is really uneconomical to use a real boat for ferrying!
This is also good, the horse should not be a big problem on it.He was still a little worried about what to do with the three horses? (The four guards are not on horseback)

At this time, due to the high terrain on the side of Xiangyang, the bank is much higher than the river, and you can see the dilapidated wooden trestle bridges everywhere under the big slope of the river bank, as well as the various parks parked side by side. kind of boat.

There were several larger boats beside the wooden trestle bridge that He Zhuzi led them to, but there was no one on the wooden trestle bridge, which looked very deserted.

After getting closer, Li Ping noticed that the boatmen on these boats were basically old people and children, and many of them were women.Seeing Li Ping and the others, these people all looked in awe, and also had a little hope.

When Li Ping and the others started to board the boat, a dozen officers and soldiers dressed in various clothes and armed with weapons suddenly walked up and down the wooden trestle bridge from the road on the river bank, talking and laughing.

Because there were many officers, soldiers and hungry people walking along the road along the river outside the city, Li Ping didn't pay special attention to this group of people at first.

At this time, Li Ping, Hu Zhongshan and a horse had just boarded a small ferry, and the other people and horses were taking several other boats.

The group looked at Li Ping and the others, a little dazed. They probably didn't pay special attention to Li Ping and the others before getting ready, especially didn't pay attention to Li Ping and his horses, and just regarded them as ordinary river crossers.

After hesitating for a while, those who had already disembarked or not disembarked quickly surrounded another boat that Li Ping had not hired.

They should also be taboo, or not stupid.

Li Ping didn't take it seriously, he thought he was here to hire a boat.

However, soon, he heard chaotic scolding and begging, he stretched his neck to look, and immediately understood the general reason.

It turned out that those officers and soldiers cheated out the two fish that the boat had just caught in the name of buying fresh fish with a lot of money.After taking the fish, the officers and soldiers didn't intend to pay at all, and even started to tamper with a pretty woman on board, so the boatman had no choice but to beg bitterly.

Li Ping looked at the boats they had hired again. The boatmen on the boats stopped their work and looked at the scene with sad faces, but no one stepped forward, they just watched quietly.

Only the twelve or thirteen-year-old half-child boatman on Li Ping's boat had eyes full of resentment and was a little ready to move, while the other obviously crooked old boatman just sighed there.

Li Ping's mood suddenly became very bad.

He said angrily to He Zhuzi who was still on the pier and hadn't boarded the boat: "Assistant He, go and tell them that we hired that girl's boat and let that boat follow us."

He Zhuzi was stunned after hearing this, and after being scolded by Hu Zhongshan, he hurriedly agreed and ran over.The soldiers of the two reconnaissance companies who had already boarded the other ship also hurriedly jumped onto the low trestle bridge to follow.

Amidst the drumming noise, Li Ping vaguely heard a scolding soldier from a reconnaissance company, and the sound of He Zhuzi declaring Li Ping's guerrilla name.

Sure enough, the group of officers and soldiers stopped quickly. Although there were a large number of people, they didn't dare to continue to make trouble, and just left obediently with the fish.

People like Li Ping and the others who were all riding horses and most of them were still wearing armor could tell at a glance that they were not idle people, and fools also knew that they should not make enemies with them, although it was strange that they didn't take a big boat and only took a small boat like this.

After this story, Li Ping and his small fleet set off.

The little girl's boat also followed behind, but Li Ping hadn't seen clearly what the little girl looked like, she seemed to be quite dark and compact.

Sitting on the bow of the boat, Li Ping asked the half-baby curiously: "How is your business on weekdays?"

Maybe it was because Li Ping offered to help, the middle-aged man no longer looked at Li Ping so fearfully, instead he kept helping Hu Zhongshan calm the horses.

When Li Ping asked him, he answered straightforwardly: "It's very bad now, there are no customers, the small businesses have disappeared long ago, and the common people dare not run around anymore. How can anyone come across the river by boat?" .Mr. Jun, you have also seen that before you came, so many of our ships were idle."

Li Ping probably understood the reason when he heard it. A small businessman without a backer really can't survive now.Anyone who dared to do business would be robbed as much as he estimated, and how many ordinary people would go back and forth between the two cities with nothing to do.

So, he went on to ask: "Then how do you make a living? Do you still have food to eat?"

"Without work, there is no food to eat. Fortunately, we still have a boat, so we can always catch two fish, so we won't starve to death, but we are still far from being full." This kind of welcoming and sending life has already tempered him.

"Is that fish easy to catch?" Li Ping continued to ask.

"It's hard to fight. So many people have no food to eat and are thinking about catching fish, but how many fish are there in this river? Sister only caught those two fish in one morning, and she was already hungry The stomach is gone, but it was snatched away by those killers just now, so there is nothing to eat."

As soon as the middle-aged man finished speaking, the old man at the stern suddenly "coughed" twice and shouted: "Little boy, don't talk nonsense."

The middle-aged man stuck out his tongue when he heard that, and was busy watching Li Ping's reaction.

But Li Ping didn't mind anything, instead he continued to ask strangely: "Since the fish is not easy to come by, why did you take it out so easily?"

"Naturally, I wouldn't do it normally. Military men often come to search, and we hide it very tightly. Today, you hired a boat and paid a big cake as a deposit. My sister looked envious, and I thought I was a little anxious. This It’s just that I trust those military masters. It’s better to have more food than just two fish.” Although the half-baby didn’t say "kill talent" anymore, he could see that he was still very angry.

Hearing this, Li Ping was also speechless, so he said helplessly: "Don't worry, we won't renege on our debts."

Then, he planned to change the subject, and didn't want to be embarrassed by this imaginable question any more.

So, he waited for a while and asked again: "Why don't you see young men on your boat? Is there anything to say about this boat?"

"What can you say about this? They were all caught to build and operate ships over there." The half-child said, pointing to the ocean of ships in the distance.

Li Ping also looked in the direction pointed by the middle-aged man. The river in the distance seemed to be covered with an endless layer of ants.But it seemed to be nothing more than that. It was not much different from the swarms of fishing boats that Li Ping had seen on the seashore before, but there were a lot more of them, but his state of mind still had a slight change.

Seeing that Li Ping began to look into the distance, he stopped talking for a long time, and the half-grown man ran to the stern of the boat to help the old man shake his hand.

After disembarking at the west of Fancheng on the opposite bank, Li Ping noticed that He Zhuzi brought some small doughnuts to the boatmen. The boatmen immediately thanked He Zhuzi, and some even knelt down to He Zhuzi.

Li Ping thought for a while, and said to the old man who was rocking the boat for him: "Just wait here, we will go back and take your boat later."

"Thank you General, thank you General! Don't worry, General, we will wait." The old man's face suddenly bloomed like a flower.

After riding on the horse, on the way to the place where the big boats gathered, Li Ping asked He Zhuzi, why did he pay the boat fare with cakes?

He Zhuzi carefully explained: "Sir, what Xiangfan lacks the most is food. The food that can be found on the market is either robbed by officers and soldiers, or bought by force. No grain store is still open. The common people have nowhere to go. When you buy food, if you want to eat, you have to eat what you have, or you can only find those black-hearted people or big households to exchange it at a very high price.

Now, no matter what you do, if you pay everyone copper money, everyone is unwilling to take it. After all, you can’t give a lot, and everyone thinks that barter is the best thing, and food is the best.

I brought some pancakes, steamed buns, and pickles when I went out of the city this time, not only for the convenience of doing business, but also worried that everyone would not find a place to eat when they were hungry.

For the boat fare just now, I paid one piece of pie per boat, and there were only 2 or 3 people on each boat. After sharing this piece of cake, it was their daily ration, and it might still be the best ration these days.That's definitely a pretty high payout, a real big price.

I also thought that after all, it is not so safe on the water, so I gave such a high price to make them more dedicated, otherwise there would be many people rushing to do the halving. "

After Li Ping heard it, although he had expected it, he still felt a little unspeakable.

If these people who depend on Jiang for their livelihood are like this, then what about those farmers and ordinary residents!No matter how rich they are, how much money can they have in exchange for food.

In such an environment, good people can't survive at all, social rituals, music and laws will inevitably collapse, and it may be very difficult to regain normal folk customs in the future.

(End of this chapter)