Brocade clothing as the country

Chapter 252 Who Sent You Here

The lobby of Xingcai Inn is full of tables and chairs, and it is inevitable to be wiped when walking in the store. Although the doors and windows are wide open, the smell in the inn is very unpleasant.

The smell of wine, sweat, and the smell of those fish dishes, there may be a smell of powder in the middle, the combination of these messy smells really makes people's nose stuffy.

On both sides of the bustling canal, there is also the place where the canal and the Haihe River meet. There are a large number of people flowing here day and night. Everyone is out on the boat and has some money in their pockets.

The folk culture of the Ming Dynasty was quite flashy. From the high officials to the common people, they all pursued pleasure, which also contributed to the commercial prosperity of the Ming Empire in this era.

All kinds of people were drinking and shouting, talking and laughing loudly, and there were fans who sang songs and laughed.

Ma Sanbiao, Tan Jiang, Tan Bing, Tan Jian and Li Hutou, who followed Wang Tong, had experienced such an atmosphere for the first time.

Tan Jiang and the Tan family lived very simple and didn't pay much attention to it. Li Hutou always liked to be lively, but at this time they were all frowning. Li Hutou was still covering his nose with his hands. He was very uncomfortable, but Ma Sanbiao was looking around with great interest.

Wang Tong had a smile on his face. Compared with that life, the nights in this era are quiet and dark, but the scene in front of him gave him a different feeling and brought back some emotions and memories.

Traffickers and pawns can also eat meat and drink. Everyone in the store has tired looks on their faces, but no one is numb and hopeful. Wang Tong carefully looks at everyone under the light, guessing their identities and lives.

I thought this scene was the acme of the common people's night life in this era, but I didn't expect that the merchants in Nanzhili, which were close to the two tables, disdainfully said that compared with Su Songchang, it was really far behind. Suzhou night, Wa The wine shop is like daytime, and the flow of people is like weaving.

Wang Tong patted his forehead, thinking involuntarily, it seems that Wanli was already a very late emperor in the Ming Dynasty, how many years before this empire will perish, he should die well at that time, but thinking of Wang Tong is also a bit strange here.

With such a prosperous business, why in the history that I know, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was so impoverished that the finances and the army could only be maintained by increasing taxes. This increase intensified the peasant war and bankrupted the already poor peasants , drove them to the dead end of rebellion, and finally led to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, and then the Tartars entered the customs. Hundreds of years of ignorance and darkness came, and then came the more humiliating modern times.

Why did he come here for no reason, the disaster and destruction should be more than ten years away, Wang Tong patted his forehead more vigorously.

Tan Jiang and Tan Bing have been habitually looking around at all the places they can see since they left the city. Maybe someone will go out of the city when it is dark, maybe they will also live in Xingcai Inn by coincidence, maybe they will come here Drink some wine and eat something, but keep staring at Wang Tong's table, and the clothes on his body are not people who ask for life on the side of the canal at all, which makes people suspicious.

Tan Bing and Tan Jiang looked at each other, and after nodding for confirmation, Tan Bing came over and reported to Wang Tong in a low voice.

After saying a few words, Wang Tong didn't respond at all. Only then did they notice that their little master was distracted. Tan Jiang coughed and put the tea bowl on the table.

The movement was a little too big, Wang Tong swayed, and suddenly realized that although his historical knowledge was very fragmented, he could think of the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood that changed from dynasty to dynasty, and now he can realize more concretely how cruel this is. Wang Tong felt very uncomfortable.

Tan Bing said something again, Wang Tong didn't even look at it, he just picked up the tea and said:
"Don't panic, wait until the people leave."

After all, this is not that time, everyone will continue to beg for life tomorrow, and within an hour, those with little money go back to their rooms to sleep, and those with a lot of money go to bed together with their fans in their arms, the people in the inn lobby gradually thin out.

In the end, only two tables remained here, and the stale air gradually dissipated. Tan Jiang and the others felt a little more comfortable, and were in the mood to eat some snacks, while the other table pretended to be chatting and remained still.

After the guys cleaned up, Huang San, the head clerk in the store, changed his clothes and walked over. He came to the table and said respectfully:
"Later, I will trouble a few masters to change their clothes as assistants, and go there together pretending to deliver meals. Although people are not allowed to come and go over there, there are still some taboos for official servants."

Wang Tong nodded with a smile, took out a silver coin of about three taels and threw it to Huang San, saying:

"Go get a basket of steamed cakes and send them to that table, the rest will be rewarded to you!"

Fifteen Wen for a basket of steamed cakes, which is equivalent to a direct reward of three or two. Huang San's face was immediately filled with a smile, but then he hesitated and said:

"Master, the pancakes in the kitchen are cold."

"It's okay, just send it to them, just say that our table invites you, and get out of the way after you deliver it."

Huang San didn't dare to say more, and quickly turned around to get busy. Wang Tong pushed the tea bowl forward and said calmly:
"Don't let people run away, and don't be afraid of hurting people!"

Over there, Huang San took a steamed pancake and put it on the table politely. The four people who followed him were very strange at first. After hearing the reason, their buttocks jumped up as if they were being pricked by needles.

Wang Tong raised his hand and raised his voice to say hello:
"Come here, I have something to ask you!"

As long as you are not a fool, you will not go to answer. The four people glanced at each other, turned around and ran, and there was a scream in the air. The person running in the front seemed to be hit by some heavy object behind him, and he was carried away with a scream. When they reached the ground, the remaining three people stopped in unison, and a short arrow was nailed to the man's shoulder blade.

"Tan Bing is so accurate!"

As soon as those people moved, Tan Bing stood up from his seat, opened his bow and set an arrow, and quickly shot one person. The movement was smooth and swift, without any muddle. Wang Tong couldn't help applauding.

Tan Bing shook his head and said humbly:

"My lord, I'm honored. If Chihei was here, he wouldn't have missed his shot by more than an inch like the little one."

Wang Tong and the others stood up Shi Shiran, waved at the probing shopkeeper and clerks, dispersed irrelevant people, and walked up to the four stalkers.

The face of the person who was shot in the shoulder was bleeding from the fall, but the real injury was not serious, but they were completely frightened by this blow, and they all fell silent, not daring to move.

"Who sent you here?"

Wang Tong asked. He smiled very kindly. With the appearance of Wang Tong's half-old child, he really couldn't scare anyone. The first reaction of the four people was to shake their heads, and one of them explained with a full face of grievance:

"We are boat owners on the river, and we come here to eat."

Seeing the action of the other party, Wang Tong also shook his head, pointed at the person who spoke and said:
"Sanbiao, gag him with a cloth!"

Ma Sanbiao is tall and strong, and he has been working hard all day long. These men who are watching are also considered strong and strong, but they have no power to resist in front of him. A rag picked up on the table.

The rag was greasy and dirty, and when it was stuffed into the man's mouth, the man immediately showed a look of vomiting, but the man was held down by Ma Sanbiao so hard that he couldn't vomit at all.

Wang Tong put the man's hand on the table, Tan Jian held it down, Wang Tong unsheathed the waist knife with his backhand, the knife was not out of the sheath, and slammed on the man's finger.

There were fingers as cushions, and the sound was not too loud, but the eyes of the person who was hit by the hit suddenly widened, and his facial features were distorted, but he couldn't make any sound because his mouth was blocked.

Everyone nearby could hear the sound of bones breaking. This person's fingers were twisted abnormally. The moment Li Hu's head was hit by Wang Tong, his whole body seemed to tremble, but his expression was still normal. However, Wang Tong seemed to know his thoughts, turned his head and said with a smile:

"Hutou, there is a priority in doing things. You don't need to waste too much time on this kind of bastard."

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and asked the other three people, the voice was still very kind:

"Who sent you here?"

Everyone hesitated for a while, seeing that Wang Tong was about to raise his hand, the one who was hit by the arrow in the shoulder didn't dare to stand up, endured the pain and said in a low voice:
"My lord, please forgive my life, my lord, please forgive my life. The younger ones belong to the incense club in Chuantou Xiangcheng. Since my lord killed Jiang Song, Xiangtou from above has ordered me to keep an eye on my actions."

Wang Tong waved his hands with a gloomy face, and said to the people around him:

"Tie it up and gag it, lock it up in a woodshed overnight, and bring it into the city tomorrow for questioning."

Tan Bing and others swarmed up, tied him up, tied his teeth with cloth strips, and threw them directly into the woodshed, which scared the shopkeeper of the Xingcai Inn so much that he hurriedly found two young men to watch him. the door.

*********
This was just an episode, Wang Tong and others and Huang San were all wearing guys' clothes and carrying food boxes, Xingcai Inn actually prepared a dilapidated carriage, which is said to be often used when delivering meals there.

The food and cooking required were not too small, and there were even four jars of sorghum wine. Except for Huang San who was driving, the rest of the people couldn't get in the car, and riding a horse was obviously not suitable, so they had to just follow the car.

Fortunately, it's an old horse with a broken car, so you have to be careful and slow down at night, so you won't be unable to keep up. At first, Huang San kept asking Wang Tong to get on the car, but Wang Tong refused.

".There will only be docking at night for loading and unloading. In the second half of May, the Haihe River will be extremely busy during the daytime."

Huang San natives are very familiar with this, but Wang Tong did not expect that he would berthing and loading and unloading openly during the day, so he continued to discuss.

". Some big ships coming from the south are careful. They enter the Haihe River at night and leave at night after unloading. Even if they don't leave, they don't come out during the day. But the shipowners on the sea are rich and simple. I’m not used to eating, so I often come to small inns to order some food and drink. To tell you the truth, the cook at Xingcai Inn is quite famous in Tianjin Weidu.”

(End of this chapter)