Qi Feng asked Meng Jiaozhou for tea silver. Meng Jiaozhou felt a little confused. Seeing everyone staring at him, he hesitated for a moment, then finally put away the knife, reached into his arms, and took out a stack of silver notes. He held it in his hand, counted it, then raised his head and said to Qining: "General... I have one thousand, seven hundred taels of silver notes here, this...!"
Qi Ning slightly raised his head and said nothing. Qi Feng stretched out his hand, and Meng Jiaozhou handed it to him in a daze. Qi Feng counted them and sighed: "General Meng, one thousand seven hundred taels. Each of these hundreds of brothers, each I can only get five taels of silver, not even ten taels of silver. This... isn't it a little too little?"
Meng Jiaozhou immediately said: "No hurry, no hurry, I will go and get it right away. Each person has ten taels of silver, which can be considered as tea silver for everyone. I don't know... what do you think?"
Qi Feng sighed and said, "That's all we can do." He handed the banknote to Wu Dalin and said, "Leader Wu, General Meng gave the tea silver to the brothers. Can you please distribute it to the brothers?"
Wu Dalin was amused, but he was not polite. He reached out to take it, bowed his hand to Meng Jiaozhou, and said, "Thank you so much, General Meng."
Meng Jiaozhou breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves. He turned around and saw a knight with a flag on his back coming this way. His flying horse was like lightning, and he was well-dressed. He was with Meng Jiaozhou's men. The group of cavalry was very different. Everyone was wondering. The knight with the flag on his back shouted from a distance: "The prince has an urgent message. Where is General Meng?"
Meng Jiaozhou turned his horse's head and Pegasus went to meet him. When the knight saw Meng Jiaozhou, he took a letter and handed it to him. Without stopping, he turned around and flew away on Pegasus.
Meng Jiaozhou took the letter, opened it immediately, and sat on the horse to read the letter. Qining and Wu Dalin looked at each other, thinking that they had just landed ashore, so it happened that King Taishan sent the letter, and they didn't know if it had anything to do with the mission.
Meng Jiaozhou glanced at it for a few times, then stuffed the letter into his arms, then rode over and smiled at Qining: "Jin Yihou, you are guests from afar. I happen to have official business to go to Xuzhou City. You are going Linzi and Xuzhou City are places you must pass through, and I will escort you along the way."
"Oh?" Qi Ning said with a smile: "In this case, there will be General Lao Meng."
Meng Jiaozhou said: "It's just along the way, but with the general here, your road will naturally be smooth. Otherwise, you will have to undergo interrogation every time you pass a checkpoint, which will delay a lot of time."
Qi Ning felt strange in his heart, thinking to himself that he didn't know what was written in the letter that Meng Jiaozhou received, but since Meng Jiaozhou could go along with him, it wasn't a bad thing.
Leaving the Eastern Qi Army's riverside defense line, Qin Ning sighed in his heart. Although he didn't know much about the formation, he could still see that the Eastern Qi Army's formation was full of flaws, and the Eastern Qi defenders were in disarray and had low morale. Although the border defense was important, Dong Qi appointed mediocre and incompetent people like Meng Jiaozhou. Fortunately, there was no war between Dong Qi and Chu. Otherwise, once the two countries really clashed, as Han Yu said, with the appearance of the Chu army, It was really easy to cross the river.
Meng Jiaozhou was true to his word. When he left the camp, he sent another 1,800 taels of silver notes, taking a total of more than 3,000 taels of silver.
Qi Ning thought that Meng Jiaozhou was rich and wealthy, but now it seemed that it was true. It was very easy to spend thousands of taels of silver.
However, Meng Jiaozhou repeatedly asked Qi Feng to remember the amount. When he arrived at King Lu's city, he must explain the amount to the Ministry of Rites, so that the Ministry of Rites would not default on the payment.
Qi Feng felt funny in his heart, but he agreed wholeheartedly.
The journey was very smooth. Meng Jiaozhou was very familiar with Xuzhou. In order not to delay the mission's itinerary, he sent people to prepare food in advance. The food the mission had in Chu was not as good as the food in Dong Qi.
At noon the next day, I saw the high mountains ahead. After walking for more than ten miles, I suddenly saw a roadblock on the road ahead. The heavily armed Dongqi soldiers guarded the road. When I saw the envoys coming, someone had already shouted loudly. : "This road is closed. No one is allowed to pass. Find another way."
Qi Ning frowned slightly, but Meng Jiaozhou looked slightly annoyed. He urged his horse forward and said loudly: "I am Meng Jiaozhou. I have been ordered to see King Taishan, but he won't let us pass."
But there was a cold voice on the other side: "It doesn't matter whether you are Meng Jiaozhou or Jiao Mengzhou, no one is allowed to pass this road, and those who trespass will be killed without mercy!"
Qi Ning looked at Meng Jiaozhou and asked doubtfully: "General Meng, is there anyone in Xuzhou who dares to block your way?"
Meng Jiaozhou had previously boasted that Haikou was smooth with him traveling there. Unexpectedly, the road here was blocked. Qining asked from the side. Meng Jiaozhou looked extremely ugly. He glanced at it and saw that there were only more than ten people blocking the road. He was a soldier, and he led an accompanying group of thirty or forty soldiers. In addition to the more than two hundred people in the envoy, there were also three hundred people in the dark place, much more than the other party. He was full of confidence and cursed: "He Damn it, I'm blind, I am Meng Jiaozhou, King Taishan's confidant, how dare you block my way, are you looking for death?"
The group of soldiers looked at each other, and then they all burst into laughter. One person laughed and said: "Where did the wild dog come from? It dares to bark here, it is seeking death, and it is still uttering arrogant words."
Meng Jiaozhou pulled out his knife and said angrily: "Who are you? Who asked you to block the road?"
Someone on the other side sneered and said: "If you continue to struggle here, you will definitely not be spared, so get out of here."
Meng Jiaozhou even changed his color and said loudly: "Damn, you are really looking for death. Come here, tie up these bastards for me. I will hand them over to the King of Mount Tai."
The group of soldiers under Meng Jiaozhou suddenly shouted and urged their horses forward. Suddenly they were about to take action. When the other party saw that they were about to take action, more than ten soldiers immediately formed a line. They all took off their bows and arrows and bent their bows. The arrow was aimed at this side. The person in front looked ugly and said in a cold voice: "King Taishan? Hehe, even if it is King Taishan, he can't control us. We are from Feihu Camp, the prince's personal soldiers. You Are you trying to rebel if you dare to attack us?"
Meng Jiao was stunned on Monday, and the group of soldiers under him also looked at each other.
Qi Ning and Wu Dalin looked at each other and looked on coldly without saying anything, but they both thought in their hearts that Eastern Qi had Qingzhou and Xuzhou, and the capital of Lucheng was in Linzi, Qingzhou. Since the crown prince of Eastern Qi was the crown prince, he naturally lived in the capital, so how could he do it? But the soldiers from below appeared in Xuzhou to block the road? Both of them almost thought, could it be that the Crown Prince of Dong Qi actually came to Xuzhou
When Meng Jiaozhou heard that the other party was from Feihuying, his arrogance suddenly weakened. Although King Taishan was powerful, the prince was the crown prince of the empire. Even King Taishan would not dare to provoke him easily, let alone himself. I was glad in my heart and thought to myself that it was a good thing that there was no real fight, otherwise if the prince's soldiers were injured, the consequences would be really disastrous.
At that moment, he smiled apologetically and said: "Turns out he is a brother from Feihu Camp, hahaha, he almost accidentally hurt one of our own, it was all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"
The soldier sneered and said: "One of our own? Who is our own with you? You are talking arrogantly, how should this account be settled?"
"This... this is all our fault." Meng Jiaozhou said hurriedly: "Has your Royal Highness come to Xuzhou? How offensive. Let's take a detour." He turned his horse's head and was about to leave.
Someone on the other side said coldly: "Wait a minute, it's not that easy to leave. You just called us bastards, right?"
Meng Jiao said nothing on Tuesday. He raised his hand and said to himself, "It's me who's a bitch. I'm a fool. I'm sorry for my brothers. I'm too blind to see Mount Tai. You adults don't remember the little ones." It’s my fault, don’t argue with me.”
"It's okay not to care about it." Seeing Meng Jiaozhou give in, everyone on the other side stopped working. The man in front smiled and said: "To show that you know your mistakes and can correct them, kneel down and kowtow each one, and we won't care about it."
Meng Jiaozhou frowned and hesitated. The other party sneered, "What, you don't want to kowtow?"
"Brothers from Feihuying, give me some face at least." Meng Jiaozhou thought to himself that the Chu State delegation was nearby. If there were no outsiders, it wouldn't be a big deal to kowtow, but in full view of everyone, he really wanted to bow to him. The other party kowtowed, and there was really no place to put his face, "I'll prepare a banquet later to apologize to you. I hope you can show your respect for this matter today."
The more Meng Jiaozhou gave in, the more than a dozen of the prince's soldiers became more proud and said one after another: "Do we brothers still need a banquet? You said that we are bastards, which is an offense to His Royal Highness. A banquet will do the trick." Set things right? If you can’t kneel down, don’t leave today.”
Meng Jiaozhou stood up and dismounted, knowing that these arrogant soldiers were difficult to deal with. He had the respect of King Taishan, so he was naturally arrogant in Xuzhou, but he was not a fool after all. He knew that offending the prince would be a big deal, and he would only be afraid of Taishan when the time came. Wang couldn't protect himself, so he stepped forward, took two banknotes from his arms and stuffed them in. The leader glanced at the amount, smiled faintly, took them, and reprimanded: "Keep your eyes open from now on, you dog!" Some, for the sake of King Taishan, I will not care about you this time. If you offend again next time, I will not forgive you."
Meng Jiaozhou even believed that money can make the world go round, and he spent money to eliminate misfortune. Although he was itching with hatred in his heart, he still smiled apologetically on his face: "Don't dare!" He turned around and said, "Let's avoid this road." Road, go another way."
Qi Ning suddenly asked: "General Meng, if we change the route, how much longer will it take?"
Meng Jiaozhou said: "It will only take about one more day."
Qi Ning nodded slightly, raised his hand and pointed forward and said: "In that case, let's go this way. If we can save a day, why should we change the road?"
Meng Jiao was startled on Monday, his color changed slightly, thinking that this matter had just been settled, why was there still trouble in the Jinyi period? The prince's soldiers over there could hear clearly, and someone immediately sneered: "Oh, there are really people who are not afraid of death, Meng Jiao." Jiao Zhou, who is this? Well, under the banner of Chu State, could he be from Chu State?"
The team's car was decorated with flags and the word "Chu" floating on it. It was easy to recognize them as Chu soldiers at a glance.
Meng Jiaozhou said hurriedly: "This is the Jinyi Marquis of Chu State, leading the envoy to Beijing to meet the Holy Spirit."
"Even if the emperor who has gone abroad comes, he must take a detour." The soldier sneered: "We have been ordered to block this road and no one is allowed to pass."
Qi Ning said calmly: "I was ordered to go to the capital of Eastern Qi. I passed by it, but there were obstacles. If I met the gods, I would kill the gods, and if I met the Buddha, I would kill the Buddha!"