Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 236 0231 [Killing and Silencing]

A small boat is docked by the Huangyang River in the south of Jinzhou City.

Before the three of them approached, a man stuck out his head: "Li Sanlang, this way!"

Li Bao immediately speeded up and forcibly, after boarding the boat, he said: "Brother Lao Lao."

The man's name was Liang Ping, a yamen official recommended by Wang Jia. He lied about being sick and went home to rest, and quietly went out of the city to hire a boat.

The boatman asked, "Where are you going?"

Zeng Xiaoduan said: "Pingli County, Yaowanggou."

The boatman sailed away from the shore, then paddled and said, "I know about Pingli County, but I have never been to Yaowanggou."

Liang Ping said impatiently, "I'll ask again when I get to Pingli County. What are you talking about? There's a lot of money for your boat!"

The boatman immediately shut up, and everyone remained silent.

After paddling for two or three miles, the boatman began to complain again: "Last year it didn't snow much, and this year it didn't rain. Even the Huangyang River is shallow. I'm afraid we won't be able to harvest much food."

No one paid attention to him, they were all thinking about the case.

It was almost dusk when we left the city, and soon it was dark, and the boat stayed by the river for the night.

Continue to move forward the next day, and soon arrive at a grass market called Huangyangkou (south of County River Town).It is located at the junction of two rivers, and its scale is similar to that of Baishitou, but there is a private tax card in Xicheng County, which intercepts medicinal materials and tea to collect tolls.

This kind of private card, Zhu Ming intends to ban it, and has sent official documents to the counties.

There is a tax card on the other side of the state city, and it will be collected again here. How can merchants bear it?Many small businessmen would rather hire people to cross mountains and ridges than take more convenient waterways.

The boatman stayed, and everyone went ashore to eat in the grass market.

Liang Ping chewed a couple of mouthfuls, and asked the stall owner, "Where is Yaowanggou?"

The stall owner shook his head: "I don't know."

Unable to find any information, they had no choice but to give up. Li Bao bought some pancakes and brought them back to the boatman.

The water of the Huangyang River is dry and shallow, and its tributary, the Pingli River (county river), is even worse. Only small boats can pass in the middle of the river, and large riverbeds have been exposed on both sides.

The drum carts are useless, and farmers along the banks can only go down the river to carry water, bucket by bucket to irrigate the paddy fields.

Li Bao finally became vigilant: "The spring drought is severe, there may be a famine, I have to remind my husband to prepare early when we go back."

Not only here, this year Hanzhong also experienced a spring drought, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, and Shandong were all droughts, and even Xixia was facing severe drought.

Pingli County in the Song Dynasty is located in the old county town of later generations.

The whole county is full of mountains, and only some river valleys are easy to cultivate.In addition, it has to be irrigated by streams in the mountains, and agricultural production is extremely unstable.

The mountain people collect herbs and hunt to subsidize their families. There are many hunters here.

When staying in the county, they finally asked about the news of Yaowanggou.

Continue to go south along the Pingli River, then turn north, inquire about the situation along the way, and finally approach the destination after two days.

Yaowanggou is a valley, the water is so dry that even small boats are easy to run aground.

Li Bao found a village outside the valley, decided to inquire about it, and stayed for one night before entering.

The village is very poor, the west bank of the river is full of hills, and the villagers live on the east bank.There are only tens of meters wide alluvial flat land, all of which are paddy fields and belong to wealthy households in the village.However, the river is dry and shallow, and half of the paddy fields are insufficient to store water.

More villagers make a living by farming the mountain land, and corn has not spread here, and they are still growing corn, sorghum and other things.

In this year's dry weather, it is most suitable to grow corn, because corn is drought-tolerant.

When we came to the most luxurious house in the village, Li Bao said: "We are merchants from other places, and we plan to collect some medicinal materials and furs. Please inform your master."

"Guests wait for a while." Menzi went in to report.

Soon they were invited in, this house was far inferior to the old white member's family, and there were much fewer servants in it.Counting the fixed assets, the wealth of the richest man in this village can be hundreds or even thousands at most.

I saw the owner in the living room, it was a middle-aged man.

After exchanging pleasantries, I knew his surname was Li, so I called him Yuanwai Li.

Li Bao smiled and said, "My surname is Li too, maybe we belonged to the same family 500 years ago."

Li Yuanwai was also very happy, and asked his servant to bring home-steamed tea, and asked Li Bao how many mountain products he planned to buy.

Backcountry, too lazy to pretend.

Li Bao said: "Please move the screen back to the left and right."

Li Yuanwai waved the servant back.

Li Bao took out the official document signed by the prefect and said: "We are officials of the prefectural government, and we are here to hunt down a fugitive."

"A fugitive?" Li Yuanwai hurriedly checked the seal of the official document.

Zeng Xiaoduan said: "This man's name is Han He, also known as Han Da. His parents are both from Yaowanggou. 40 years ago, the family fled famine and went to Zhoucheng to beg for food."

Li Yuanwai asked, "What are his parents' names?"

Zeng Xiaoduan shook his head: "I don't know."

Li Yuanwai said: "I am only 42 years old this year. It is really impossible to know people who moved away 40 years ago. Why don't I invite some old people in the village and ask them if they have heard of it?"

"I'm worried about Mr. Li, but don't leak the news, so as not to scare the fugitive away." Li Bao said.

"I can save it." Mr. Li called the servant and asked him to invite the old man in the village.

Li Yuanwai, a few elderly people, came one after another and asked, "Elders, do you remember that there is a family named Han in Yaowanggou? 40 years ago, he fled famine and went to Jinzhou. He also has a son named Han He."

An old man said: "There are two villages in Yaowanggou. In Laohuyan Village next to it, there are indeed several households surnamed Han. My sister-in-law is surnamed Han, and she married from there."

Li Bao immediately said, "Can I invite my husband's sister-in-law to ask a few words?"

"She has been dead for 30 years, and my nephew has been to Tiger Rock." The old man said.

So, the old man's nephew Li Si was invited again.

His nephew, who is also about 50 years old, stated: "When my mother was alive, I went to Tiger Rock with me. Later, my mother died, and my grandfather died, so I didn't walk around again."

Zeng Xiaoduan said: "The surname Han is about the same age as your Excellency. You may have played with him when you returned to your mother's house with your mother."

This person scratched his head and thought for a long time, but he couldn't remember a little friend named Han He.He just said: "40 years ago, there was a severe drought, and many people went out to flee, even my family fled to the county seat. My father also died of starvation at that time. I remember that the families of Huhuyan surnamed Han fled. He died while fleeing famine."

Asked repeatedly, to no avail.

After staying in the village for one night, Li Bao led people to set off, including the old man's nephew Li Si.

Li Bao inquired in the villages outside Yaowanggou, while Yang Pu followed Li Si to Laohuyan Village to investigate.

Yang Pu pretended to be Li Si's nephew, afraid of revealing his accent, so he didn't speak the whole time, and only told Li Si what to do in advance.

Li Si entered the village and found his grandfather's house based on his memory from more than 20 years ago.Only a woman was feeding the chickens, and they didn't know each other.

After talking for a long time, I finally recognized my relatives. The woman is Li Si's cousin and daughter-in-law.

Li Si said: "I was seriously ill, and I didn't have a few years to live, so I wanted to go back to Tiger Rock. When I was young, I had a playmate named Han He, who fled to Jinzhou 40 years ago, did he come back alive?"

"I don't know." The woman shook her head.

Yang Pu pretended to be dumb, babbling and gesticulating, constantly raising his fingers to sign for "six".

Li Si was reminded, and said again: "I heard people say that he came back six years ago?"

"Six years ago?" The woman suddenly laughed, "My uncle remembered wrongly. The one who came back six years ago was not called Han He. His name is Han Shun, and he is still my cousin in terms of seniority."

"That's why I forgot, Han Shun is still in the village?" Li Si asked.

The woman said: "I come back every year to visit the grave, and stay for a few days before leaving."

Li Si asked, "Where does he make his home?"

The woman said: "He said he was in the county, and his son said he was in Shizituo. I'm afraid he was confused, and he couldn't understand what he was talking about. He also concealed and didn't say what he was doing for a living."

Yang Pu immediately pulled Li Si away, and the woman kept them for dinner, but she couldn't help it.

The woman muttered, "Everyone in the Han family is very strange."

Everyone gathered outside Yaowanggou again, and Yang Pu quickly explained the situation.

Li Bao asked, "Why is it called Han Shun?"

Zeng Xiaoduan said: "Maybe it's a name change."

Li Bao asked again: "Does he have a son?"

Zeng Xiaoduan said: "There is a son who just turned ten years old six years ago."

Li Bao went to ask Li Yuanwai again: "Where is Shi Zituo?"

Li Yuanwai said: "Twenty miles to the southeast of the county seat, along the river, there is a grass market."

The people returned to Pingli County by boat and searched hard for several days, but they didn't find even a single bird feather.

Li Bao said: "It's not an option to go on like this. It's better to divide the troops into two groups. Brother Zeng and I stay in the county to continue searching, and Brother Yang Pu and Brother Liang go to Shizituo to look for someone."

The traffic in the mountainous area depends entirely on the river, and it continues to the south. It belongs to the tributary of the Pingli River, which is a tributary of the tributary of the Han River.

Twenty miles away, it takes one day to row a boat.

Shizituo is smaller than Baishitou, with only a dozen shops in the town.

Yang Pu spoke with a foreign accent, and Liang Ping was in charge of making inquiries. He only took the opportunity to observe the situation.

Liang Ping asked from the first store: "My name is Han Ping, and I have a cousin named Han Shun. I heard that he came to Shizituo. Can you recognize the store?"

The shopkeeper said: "There are also people with the surname Han, who came from other places to settle down a few years ago. But his name is not Han Shun, but Han Tian."

"Maybe he changed his name," Liang Ping said, "Where is he?"

The shopkeeper pointed to the left: "That's the Han's Leather Store. It stinks and tans leather all day long."

Yang Pu and Liang Ping looked at each other, took their leave immediately, and walked towards the end of the street following the smell.

This Han's fur shop only rough-processes the fur, buys the fur from Orion for tanning, and then waits for the fur merchant to buy it.

"I heard that your leather is good, I want as much as I have!" Liang Ping shouted as soon as he entered the door.

Seeing a big customer coming to the door, the store quickly greeted it warmly.

Yang Pu glanced at the structure of the leather goods store, the store in front and the house in the back, and someone was tanning leather in the backyard.

Yang Pu winked secretly.

Liang Ping understood immediately: "Take me to the backyard to have a look."

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Please come inside."

This is a small family workshop, there is a boy in his teens, and a woman about 40 years old, and the woman is bringing a child of three or four years old.

There is no one else but them.

Yang Pu finally said, "Are you called Han He, or Han Shun, or Han Tian?"

As soon as this remark came out, the shopkeeper's face changed drastically, and he ran away.

Yang Pu's martial arts skills are not good, but his movements are very flexible, he can push him up in three or two steps, and then kick him to the ground.

Liang Ping drew out the dagger from his bosom, and scolded the young man, "The government is handling the case, don't move around!"

When the woman heard the word "Government", she fainted from fright on the spot, and the children around her burst into tears.

Yang Pu grabbed the shopkeeper's skirt: "Tell me, what's your name?"

The shopkeeper had a look of lovelessness: "My name is Han Shun, and Han He is my elder brother."

Yang Pu asked, "Which one is the servant in the Zeng family?"

"It's my brother." Han Shun replied.

"Where is he hiding?" Yang Pu asked.

Han Shun said: "My brother gave me a sum of money and asked me to bring my sister-in-law and nephew to Shizituo. He also asked me to wait for him for a year and a half. If he hadn't come after a year and a half, he would be dead. I live together with my sister-in-law and take care of my sister-in-law and nephew for him."

Liang Ping muttered: "It seems that the adulterer has been silenced."

(End of this chapter)