"My name is Du Shuan."
The only Hukoujian scout who was not beaten poured the wine that Fang Jie handed him into his mouth, and the wine flowed down his jaw like a stream. After drinking half a bag, he seemed to have calmed down a bit. The hot liquor burned down the throat, and the stomach immediately became warm.
He gave a wry smile and raised his head to look at Fang Jie: "Actually, I have met you a long time ago, but your status is getting more and more noble, and things are getting bigger and bigger, so naturally you won't remember that I was just sitting in the corner Looking at you talking and laughing. When you guys were sitting together drinking and chatting, I and other people surrounded you and laughed silly. Later, you entered the Academy of Martial Arts without accident, but I failed and had to be in the The capital is waiting for the military department to redistribute."
Hearing these words, Fang Xie's heart skipped a beat: "Are you an examinee at the Academy of Martial Arts? Was it from a frontier army?"
Du Shuan nodded and said sadly: "Yes... When I was selected as a candidate for the Ministry of Military Affairs, I was also high-spirited. After arriving in the capital, I realized that it was far from my expectations. Not every candidate is eligible to enter the Yanwu Military Academy. Studying in the courtyard. I come from a poor family, and although the Ministry of War gave me money after I arrived in the capital, it is not enough for entertainment.”
He paused, and smiled self-deprecatingly: "That day at the restaurant party, I was almost out of money. I was embarrassed to go, but I was dragged by other people. That day in the restaurant, you, General, are arrogant, Mo Xidao is naturally the most dazzling one, especially you, General, you are the youngest of all the candidates in the Ministry of War, and you are also the most admirable one. Everyone surrounds you, but I can only stand and watch giggling."
Fang Jie said: "There were indeed too many people at that time, and those things happened later, so I didn't talk to you, sorry."
Du Shuan shook his head: "I'm sorry, what happened that day really scared me. No one thought that the emperor would go to the restaurant in person, and I haven't seen you since then. In the exam, you are excellent in all subjects, so you can pass the exam, but I was eliminated in the liberal arts exam. Later, in the capital, I waited for the reassignment of the Ministry of War, but because the Minister of the Ministry of War and the Minister of the Ministry of War were dismissed by the emperor successively, those of us who failed the exam Candidates can only wait in the capital, they have no money in their hands, but they dare not leave without authorization."
Fang Xie knew that at that time, the emperor dismissed a large number of officials from the Ministry of War. It was probably because of this that the reassignment of these candidates was delayed. These candidates who were born in the frontier army had no savings. When they were in the frontier, their heads were pinned to their trouser pockets. Subsidized money, but so many military candidates gathered together, drinking today and drinking tomorrow, that little money is not enough at all.
At that time, Zhang Kuang was relatively rich with spare money, but later on he wanted to find Fang Jie to borrow money.
"Then I thought about it..."
Du Shuan sighed and said: "The adults in the Ministry of War dragged us, seventy-eight out of ten were instigated by Prince Yi. Although we have all failed the rankings, we are still an outstanding group of people in the frontier army. Prince Yi wants to rebel , he took a fancy to our group of people, so he let the Ministry of War delay our affairs, and our life became more and more difficult without money, and he sent someone to contact us to take advantage of our dissatisfaction with the court... "
He shook his head: "At that time, I was extremely disappointed with the imperial court. I thought that the imperial court only cared about you candidates who entered the list, and we would no longer pay attention to them, so I scolded mothers all day long. This is what Prince Yi wants so that he can use us Dissatisfaction with the imperial court came to win over."
He took a sip of wine, and seemed a little reluctant to bring up that past.
"Later, life became more and more difficult. If the owner of the inn hadn't sympathized with us and allowed us to stay, I'm afraid we would be sleeping on the street. At this time, Zhang Kuang found us..."
Du Shuan raised his head, glanced at Fang Jie, and said, "Give each of us ten taels of silver and take us to drink. We said a lot of what was in our hearts that day, but it was also stupid. Everyone scolded the people in the Ministry of War for nothing, but they didn't have any. People have to think about how the court made such a mistake."
Fang Jie asked: "Zhang Kuang dragged you to become Prince Yi's people?"
"Um."
Du Shuan nodded: "Brothers were almost desperate at that time, Zhang Kuang didn't say it clearly at the beginning, but just came to send some money to help everyone every once in a while, so that we felt sorry for it later, and asked him where to get it. So much money. At first he didn’t say anything, but when we asked urgently, he told us that the money was given by Prince Yi, but Prince Yi didn’t want to let everyone feel uncomfortable, so he didn’t want to say it.”
"At that time, we all had a good impression of Prince Yi. We knew that he was a romantic and famous prince who didn't take part in government affairs. Naturally, we are all very grateful, so we thought about how to repay. Zhang Kuang said, Prince Yi has a lot of business in private, and he lacks some guards. We are all capable. Since we can’t go back to the frontier for the time being, why don’t we help Prince Yi take care of it first? For some business matters, you can earn some money. It’s the same when you wait until the official document from the Ministry of War comes down, and it’s also said that Prince Yi has always ordered people to take care of us.”
"Everyone didn't think much about it at the time. Although they felt that it was a bit embarrassing to be a guard for a businessman, they didn't care about it at that time. In order to repay the favor and earn some money, everyone agreed. But when we followed After getting mad, I realized that the business that Prince Yi wants to do is so big that it can scare people to death. Later we learned that Prince Yi was trying to plot against him, and many people made a fuss to leave, but they all died. The most terrifying thing is that our choices Those who remained had no one to intercede or save them, and just watched those brothers who didn’t want to follow the rebellion get killed.”
"I can't figure it out now either..."
Du Shuan sighed: "At that time, how did we get used to it? Thinking about it later, it would be as if some beliefs were instilled in our minds, coupled with dissatisfaction with the imperial court, after getting into the horns I couldn't pull it out. From the anxiety at the beginning, to the utter desperation later. Later, Prince Yi set up a killer organization, which was responsible for assassinating people who were not good for him, and we were all among them."
"after that… "
He glanced at Fang Jie: "We have become opposing people. You helped the emperor put down the rebellion, but we, who thought that Prince Yi would surely succeed, only found out that Prince Yi's plot was just a joke. The emperor had already seen through it. How could you not be prepared for Prince Yi's conspiracy? When you led people to suppress the rebellion in the city, my companions died one after another, some were killed by the court, and some committed suicide in fear of crime... "
"Afterwards, the Flying Fish Robes at Ouchi's guards began to be thoroughly cleaned up in Chang'an City. Those of us who survived that day hid everywhere. We lived like a mouse during those days, and we dared not even see the sun. Today we hide in This corner drilled into that cave tomorrow, and a few companions couldn’t bear the torment during the days of hiding and went crazy. Of the group of people who were together at the beginning, only a dozen or so were lucky enough to escape the search by Ouchi’s guards indivual."
"We worked as coolies in the city, and every day we heard people say how many rebels were caught and had their heads chopped off at the entrance of the vegetable market. At first, we were terrified, but then we became numb. At that time, we thought, if the flying fish robe suddenly appeared In front of me, maybe there is no fear, just relief."
"Later, after the news passed, we people left the capital. We planned to go home, but someone mentioned later that our names are all in the roster of the Ministry of War. If we go home, we will only implicate our family members So I decided to find a place to stay and see if anyone could take me in. Then I wanted to stay away from Chang'an City, the farther the better. Because we had no money, we robbed several caravans on the way, I ran across the Yangtze River in one breath... "
Fang Jie asked: "Then you stayed in Huangyang Road? But why did you build a cottage in Hukoujian?"
…
…
After Fang Jie finished asking this sentence, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he suddenly thought of one thing: "The current head of the family in Hukoujian, named Mo, is Mo Xidao?"
"yes!"
Du Shuan nodded.
"No wonder."
Fang Jie said with some disappointment: "After Prince Yi's rebellion was put down, Zhang Kuang died. I didn't find out the whereabouts of Mo Xidao. I only thought he was killed during the chaos. I have seen those who were arrested, but I didn't see him in it. At that time, people were beheaded every day at Caishikou, sometimes dozens of people a day, and sometimes thousands of people a day... and then I left I left Chang'an City and never went back."
Du Shuan lowered his head and said, "If it wasn't for Brother Mo, none of us would have been able to escape the raids by the guards. Brother Mo has a high level of cultivation, and his ability to counter arrests is also great. If it wasn't for this, we wouldn't have escaped Dong Chu fled back. He took us all the way south after escaping from the capital, and someone proposed to live incognito like this, and find a business or an escort agency, so we won’t have nothing to eat with our abilities.”
"Brother Mo said that we can no longer live that kind of life under the fence. We didn't end well with a backer as big as Prince Yi. How can we live well with those businessmen who only have money in their eyes? He said that with our abilities, we just hide like this Don't you feel aggrieved or regretful if you spend your whole life in hiding and serve as a cow and a horse for a businessman until your death?"
Du Shuan took a deep breath and let it out slowly: "After experiencing the incident with Prince Yi, everyone's minds are actually a bit wild. Hearing what Brother Mo said, I really feel sorry for myself. So I asked Brother Mo What to do, Brother Mo said that we have to find a way to survive first, why should we serve as servants to those businessmen with high eyesight, back then in Chang'an even dared to kill officials, what can't be done? "
"That day we sneaked into the house of a rich family and killed the whole family as if possessed by a demon. We robbed thousands of taels of silver and a lot of jewels. We took the money and ran to Mount Mangdang. Brother Mo said that there are countless merchants on the Yangtze River, and the merchants who travel by water have a lot of money on them, so it is best to start, so we have done a lot of cases on the north bank of the Yangtze River. , and also pulled up a team of more than a hundred people."
"After the naval conquest, Brother Mo took us to flee to Huangyang Road. Because we didn't lack money, we stopped doing business and lived in seclusion. Later..."
He sighed and said: "Li Yuanshan rebelled, Luo Yao followed suit, Brother Mo's mind moved accordingly. He also wants to rebel, but we were frightened when we heard the word rebellion. Once Who would want to come back to such a terrible experience. But Brother Mo said that the reason why he resolutely followed Prince Yi to rebel was not only because of the injustice of the court, but also because when he was drinking in the restaurant that day, someone said to him Such a sentence. He has never forgotten this sentence. "
"Princes and generals, would you rather be kind?"
Du Shuan looked at Fang Jie and said seriously, "You said this sentence."