Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 268

Zhangnan, Beizhou, Hebei (now Hengshui City, Hebei).

The north wind blows, rolling up a reed wave, which is connected with the boundless water in the distance, and the end is hazy and invisible.

"It's such a big lake!" Wang Wenzuo took a deep breath: "Suddenly seeing such a large piece of water is really refreshing! Liu Cishi, the scenery here is beautiful, shall we rest by the lake later and have some food? Things, look at the scenery?"

"Wang Canjun, do you know where this is?" Liu Rengui's mouth turned up slightly, showing a mocking smile: "Do you still want to rest here?"

"Isn't it the water mooring Liangshan? There shouldn't be any water mooring at this time, right?" Wang Wenzuo thought to himself, but smiled and said, "This subordinate doesn't know, so please ask the governor to clarify!"

"This is Gaojibo!" Liu Rengui stretched out his horsewhip and drew a big circle: "With a radius of hundreds of miles, there are dense reeds and criss-crossed ports. People who enter it will not know where they are. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Dou Jiande gathered a crowd here, and then Cheng Daye. Wang Canjun, do you still want to rest here?"

"This——, the subordinates think the scenery here is not bad, and it would be better to take a few steps to the county town to rest!" Wang Wenzuo forced a smile, his answer caused Liu Rengui to chuckle a few times, and Wang Wenzuo asked carefully after a while Said: "Liu Inspector, it has been decades since the founding of the country? Could it be that Gaojibo is not peaceful?"

"It can't be said that it's unfair!" Liu Rengui smiled: "It's just that corrupt officials and officials are indispensable at any time. If the court takes one, they will take ten from the people. If it is in other places, the people will have to endure it, but here. Something is different."

"It's different here, and what's different here?" Wang Wenzuo asked curiously.

"For one thing, the Hebei people have always been strong-willed. The people in other places are often oppressed by the government, and they often grit their teeth and endure it. However, the Hebei people often sneak into the deep mountains and swamps, and stand up as thieves."

"I don't agree with Liu Cishi's words. There are strong people everywhere, and there are also gentle people. How can there be a reason for all strong people?" Jin Ren asked on the side and said with a smile: "In my opinion, it's probably It is an excuse made up by local officials to deceive the imperial court!"

"What the manager said is right!" Liu Rengui said with a smile without being annoyed, "However, thousands of people have fled into the lake with a radius of several hundred miles, and there will be no trace of them. Fishing and cutting reeds on weekdays, some If they have the opportunity, they will come out of the lake to become thieves and rob houses, and no one can do anything to them."

"Is there such a thing? Does the county magistrate don't care?" Jin Ren asked.

"Hehe!" Liu Rengui laughed twice: "There are several prefectures and counties around Gaojibo, and everyone thinks that the thief is from the neighboring prefecture and county. Inevitably, I will go to other places after I finish this job, why do I need to do good things for my next job? One thing more is worse than one thing less!"

"That's true!" Jin Renwen nodded when he heard this: "Sanlang, although we are not afraid of thieves, there is no need to take trouble on ourselves. You tell your companions. Go faster and we will be in the county tonight." Rest!"

Wang Wenzuo responded and passed it on. Just as Jin Renwen said, there were sixty or seventy riders in their group, except for Liu Rengui, who were all young and strong with proficient martial arts. You are not afraid of encountering thousands of bandits, but they are local snakes, and even if you fight against each other in the reeds by the lake, you will not be able to gain advantage, so it is the best policy to avoid them.

After they walked for two or three miles, the wind suddenly picked up, carrying a smell of earth, coming towards them, blowing so hard that people couldn't open their eyes.Everyone saw that the weather was not right, it looked like it was going to rain, so they had to send a few scouts out to see if there was any shelter from the rain.As soon as Tanqi ran out, he heard a muffled thunder in the distance. Wang Wenzuo felt a bit of coolness on his face. He reached out and touched it, but it was rain. Take shelter in the car, it’s raining, I’m all right here!”

"It doesn't matter!" Jin Ren asked with a smile: "I often go out hunting in Chang'an, and it is common to encounter rain, so I am not so delicate. But Governor Liu is very old, and it is terrible to be drenched in the rain. , It’s better to go to the car to avoid it!”

Liu Rengui still wanted to refuse, but when the first thunderbolt sounded and the rain fell, it was like a thousand arrows, shooting his words back into his stomach, and hastily returned to the carriage, half of his body was already wet.Fortunately, a knight who explored the road came back and said that there is a temple two or three miles to the east, which can temporarily shelter from the rain.Everyone was overjoyed when they heard the words, and hurriedly turned their horses' heads and rushed towards the direction pointed by the pathfinder knight.

Everyone rushed in the rain, and they were all soaked when they arrived at the temple.The temple is located on a small soil slope, with a courtyard with two entrances. In front of the temple, there is a section of rammed earth street that has been stepped on. There is a bazaar, where people come here to buy and sell some groceries of oil and salt around the [-]th day of the new year.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and everyone didn't care to take a closer look at this time. They jumped off their horses. Wang Wenzuo led the black-toothed Changzhi and a few others to push open the outer gate. Only then did they realize that there were voices in the temple. Someone had already arrived first, and Wang Wenzuo hurried up. He said: "We are passers-by, and we are here to take shelter in case of heavy rain. We have no malicious intentions. Please rest assured!"

The door of the inner courtyard was pushed open, and seven or eight big men came out, all of them were clothed with straw sandals, their heads were wrapped with green cloth, with swords and bows on their waists, and spears in their hands. The others said in a cold voice: "This temple is originally for business travelers to take shelter from the rain. Since they are passers-by, they will be divided into half. You are outside and we are inside. How about not aggressing each other?"

"That's great! Thank you all!" Wang Wenzuo heaved a sigh of relief when he saw this. Although this group of people looked suspicious, he was not interested in fighting with them all wet. After all, he was not an envoy from the state or county , There is no need to find trouble for nothing.

Seeing that Wang Wenzuo agreed readily, the man secretly heaved a sigh of relief. The group of people on the opposite side were all tall and armed with weapons, and he didn't want to conflict with them. Charcoal, if you need it, you can send someone to pick it up, but the ugly word is up front, you don’t need money to shelter from the rain in the temple, but if you spend the charcoal and firewood in the temple, you have to save some incense money to make up for it, otherwise you will offend the gods There will be a lot of trouble!"

"It's great to have dry charcoal!" Wang Wenzuo was overjoyed when he heard the words: "Thank you for reminding me, brother, Xiaoke's surname is Wang. Let's settle down first, and then come to get the charcoal."

"Brother Wang, please do yourself!" The man cupped his hands: "My surname is Wendao Liu, and Brother Wang calls me Liu Qi! Later, Brother Wang's people will shout twice outside and open the door!" A group of people entered the inner courtyard, and the door was closed again.

"Joining the army, I'm afraid these guys are thieves!" Hei Chi Changzhi whispered, "Should I ask my subordinates to take someone to investigate!"

"Forget it!" Wang Wenzuo waved his hand: "Let's be careful. After tonight, the most important thing is to get to Chang'an safely. If you really do it, Director Jin and Governor Liu lost a hair. We are all at a loss!"

"The lesson of joining the army is that you are afraid that people will not hurt the tiger's will, but the tiger will hurt the heart!"

"It doesn't matter, you pick a few people later, wear armor under your clothes, go over there to get charcoal, and the discerning people in the back room will know it at a glance!"

"As ordered!"

A group of people entered the yard. They crowded together to shelter from the rain, and parked their horses and vehicles in the yard. The horses and animals were gnawing on the half-dried weeds, and some were eating beans.The saddle is placed next to the horse, ready to be saddled.

"Director Jin, Governor Liu!" Wang Wenzuo described the situation just now: "The firewood outside is all wet, so I'll go inside to get some dry charcoal, and by the way, check out the details of the group of people inside."

"Sanlang be careful!" Jin Ren asked with a smile, and said to Hei Chi Chang Zhi: "Remember, if San Lang loses a hair, you are the only one to ask!"

"The last will obey!"

Liu Rengui was over [-], and was drenched by the heavy rain again. His spirit was clearly exhausted. He sighed: "Hebei has a strong temper. Wang Canjun will only talk about charcoal when he goes in, and don't talk about anything else. !"

"Subordinates understand!" Wang Wenzuo responded, brought Hei Chi Changzhi and others to the gate of the inner courtyard, and said loudly, "Is Brother Liu Qi here? I'm from the outer courtyard. I'm here to borrow charcoal!"

After a while, the courtyard door opened, and Liu Qi stood at the door, cupping his hands with a smile: "Brother Wang, please, the charcoal is all ready, how much do you want? Is ten baskets enough?"

Wang Wenzuo took a look and saw more than a dozen bamboo baskets under the courtyard wall, filled with charcoal. Obviously Liu Qi had already prepared it, and hurriedly cupped his hands and said with a smile: "It's enough, it's enough, brother Liu is so kind, I am ashamed of myself!"

"Everyone is a passer-by, so it's right to reach out to help when we meet by chance!" Liu Qi's attitude was in stark contrast to that just now. He even asked his subordinates to help move the bamboo basket full of charcoal out of the hospital so that Wang Wenzuo's people could help. move away.Seeing it, Wang Wenzuo secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He took out a copper coin from the purse and said with a smile, "This is incense money. Brother Liu, can you take it?"

"Hey!" Liu Qi hastily waved his hands: "Brother Wang is joking, I am not a temple blessing, if you give it to me, it will be a mess! The gods blame it, it is not a joke!"

Wang Wenzuo saw that Liu Qi didn't look like a fake: "Where is the temple wish?"

"Brother Miaozhu is not here on weekdays. He only comes when there is a market on the fifteenth day of each month!" Liu Qi said with a smile: "As for the incense money, have you seen the wooden barrel under the porch? You throw the money into the wooden barrel That's it!"

Wang Wenzuo looked in the direction of Liu Qi's finger, and sure enough there was a vermilion wooden barrel beside the colonnade in the inner hall, about half a person's height and as thick as a hug. He nodded, went to the colonnade to put money in, but found There are all kinds of copper coins in it, forty to fifty percent high, which is not a small sum of money. I couldn't help but move in my heart, and said with a smile: "If it weren't for this temple today, I would have to lie down for seven or eight when the heavy rain came. I am grateful for this kindness." , I have to pay homage to the gods, I wonder if there will be incense?"

Liu Qi was taken aback, he didn't expect Wang Wenzuo to pay homage to the gods, so he couldn't help hesitating.Seeing this, Wang Wenzuo smiled and said: "It's okay if there is no fragrance, I just bow down and worship, with a pious heart, and the gods will not blame me!"

"Incense is also available, just wait a moment!" Liu Qi called someone to order twice, and immediately sent two sticks of incense. Wang Wenzuo thought to himself that Liu Qi had a lot to do with this temple, otherwise how would he know that the incense was released? where?Moreover, there was so much money in the barrel, but he refused to take it. Either this person was Miao Zhu, or he had a deep relationship with that Miao Zhu.

Wang Wenzuo took incense, lit it in the brazier, entered the inner hall, and saw that there were not Buddhas and Taoists enshrined in it, but two people. The one in front was a middle-aged man with long beard. Wearing a hooded head, he looked kindly; behind the man stood a man with a thick beard and high cheekbones, dressed in iron armor, with one hand on the sword hilt at his waist, and the other pointing forward, with round tiger eyes, as if he was scolding someone.

"Dare to ask, who are the two enshrined here?" Wang Wenzuo asked.

"The one in the yellow robe is King Xia! The one in the black armor is General Liu?"

"King Xia? General Liu?" Wang Wenzuo was taken aback when he heard the words. He had never heard of these two names, but then he thought that this might be a local celebrity who benefited the people when he was alive and was remembered after his death. , Setting up a temple to offer sacrifices is similar to Yue Fei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Wang Shenzhi. There are too many such people, and it is impossible for me to know all of them.Thinking of this, Wang Wenzuo first bowed to the statue three times, then inserted the incense into the incense burner, and after three bows before getting up, he asked Hei Chi Changzhi to fetch a jug of wine and sprinkle it in front of the statue to enjoy the ghosts and gods.

When Liu Qi saw that Wang Wenzuo was so respectful to the statue, his expression changed slightly, and he also bowed to Wang Wenzuo: "Brother Wang is a sincere person. If you encounter trouble after passing through Gaojibo in the future, please report Liu Qi's name, and you will be fine." Get out of danger!"

"Thank you, Brother Liu!" Although Wang Wenzuo was a little strange, he didn't ask any further questions. When he returned to the outer courtyard, he told Liu Rengui, Jin Renwen and others what happened just now, and finally said: "It's strange to say that I just asked After worshiping the gods and pouring out a jug of wine, their attitudes are quite different, as if they regard me as a benefactor. I don’t know who this King Xia and General Liu are? They have such effects?”

"Hahahaha!" Liu Rengui laughed loudly when he heard the words, shook his head and said, "Wang Canjun, you really don't know who these two are?"

"It should be a local celebrity in the past, and it will benefit the local area!" Wang Wenzuo said with a wry smile: "There are too many such people, and I might know them everywhere!"

"You guessed right, these two are indeed celebrities here, but not just in Beizhou, but in the whole of Hebei! If it weren't for Emperor Taizong's invincibility, the world today might belong to King Xia!" Liu Rengui laughed. "The King of Xia is Dou Jiande, and General Liu is Liu Heita!"

"Dou Jiande, Liu Heita!" Wang Wenzuo was taken aback: "Here, aren't these two rebels? Why are there still people enshrining them?"

　Happy 4k chapter, everyone!Ask for tickets to collect and reward!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)