It was just dawn, and Xie Yilu was still curled up on the bed, when he heard shouts from the street, and in the distance, the sound of people knocking on the bottom of their pelvis, he got up suddenly: "Oh my god! What's going on outside?"
The long follower shouted in the outer room with his shoes in hand: "I don't know, I'll go and see!"
Xie Yilu rubbed his face, got out of bed and put on his clothes, just put on his belt, the long attendant ran back, and said angrily: "It seems that someone wants to cut down trees, and everyone with forests will run out of the city!"
"What tree?" Xie Yilu hurried out without putting on his hat.
"Dwarf pear tree," said the chief follower named Datian to send him off, "Our special product here is very fragrant, and it was paid as tribute a few years ago."
Xie Yilu unbolted the door, pushed the door open, and saw dusty, dusty people on the street, holding sticks running in groups towards the city gate, he crossed the threshold and followed without thinking.
The pear forest is in the north of the city, less than half a mile away from the Taiping Gate, and you can see the flag stand from a long distance away. There is a big red circle on the flag, with the word "zhi" in it, which is the Weaving Bureau.
On the way, Xie Yilu asked someone about it, but when they looked at his official uniform, they refused to say anything more. It wasn't until they got under the stage that they could see clearly the person in charge, all eunuchs in colorful clothes and hats.
The common people who arrived earlier had already surrounded the platform, shouting "Why cut down our tree" and "This is a tribute tree", but the eunuchs ignored them and were busy distributing money to the hired bachelors and beggars. Axe, Xie Yilu looked at the woods, the trees were not tall, but the branches were thick, obviously old.
Master Lin was very powerful, so he entrusted his relationship to intercede. Three or four eunuchs came down from the stage to negotiate with them, but in the end they all shook their heads, and they couldn't reach an agreement. Xie Yilu squeezed forward a few times, but couldn't squeeze through, so he raised his hand suddenly: "Where are you Shangguan! Let Shangguan speak out!"
The eunuchs saw him, pointing at his coffin and whispering to each other, Xie Yilu then shouted: "No one comes out anymore, I'll write a note and send it to Beijing!"
As soon as the words came out, the scene immediately became silent, not only the eunuchs, but even the common people stared at him. Slowly, a man walked out from the group of eunuchs. He was broad-shouldered, about seven feet tall, with a pair of big hands loosely resting on his shoulders. On the waist, he spoke softly: "These trees are so fragrant that our Dugong can't sleep well. If you cut them down, it will be good for you."
"Nonsense!" Some people immediately retorted, "It's a tree that has been around for hundreds of years, and I've never heard of it getting sick. It's a tree that was paid tribute to the Long Live Lord!"
This is indeed an excuse, Xie Yilu still wanted to fight, but suddenly there was a commotion behind him, he followed the prestige, and a hundred or two hundred paces away, the crowd parted to the two sides like a tide, a small group of people walked over, the leader was wearing grape-colored trousers, He didn't wear a hat, didn't even tie a net towel, and had dark skin and big eyes, unlike Han people.
This team of eunuchs wore knives, and their gait looked like soldiers used to fighting. When they walked past Xie Yilu, the leader deliberately bumped into him with such force that he didn't leave after the bump, and went towards the others on the stage. The big man shouted: "Yi Shiha, the little official who fell to the ground and couldn't see his two petals, what are you talking to him about!"
Xie Yilu was so angry that his face turned blue, and he grabbed the man by the collar. The man looked at his hands, and yelled out some unknown words, then heard a "chuckle" and reached out from behind him. Here comes an astonishingly long steel knife.
The people who were hugging Xie Yilu immediately dispersed, the blade of the knife turned slightly in the light of dawn, and the person holding the knife came out, also with dark skin and furry round eyes, similar to the one Zhang Cai met at Lingfu Temple. age.
"When the knife comes out, if you don't cut down the tree, you will cut down the person," Zi Yusa pulled Xie Yilu's hand away with viciousness, turned around and shouted at the common people, "Is there anyone who is not convinced!" No one answered , he shouted again, "Is there any!"
Xie Yilu looked around, there were so many people, but they were as quiet as death.
"No?" Zi Yusa nodded, "If you don't have one, get in line and come over and sign for me!"
The so-called drawing and marking is just to write down the name, family name, and then write down the number of fruit trees under the name. The first person in the list is a small businessman. Write me three hundred and fifty?"
Zi Yusa tilted his head and looked at it, and said flippantly: "I remember you have three hundred and fifty trees, that is, three hundred and fifty trees. If the tree is cut down, you have to hand over three hundred and fifty trees."
The merchant was stunned: "But... I can't hand over the fifty trees?"
"There is no tree," Zi Yu laughed, and looked around rascally, "It's silver, one tael of silver per tree."
This is extortion, I can't understand it very well, Xie Yilu can't tolerate such a bad thing, he pushes aside the crowd and walks up, pointing at Zi Yusa's nose: "Believe it or not, I'll do you!"
The eunuchs with sabers showed their guys one after another, a bright row, Zi Yusa took a step towards him, his forehead was lowered, his nose was sharp and straight, his eyes were as black as a falcon: "Don't think you are a sixth-rank official from which department, I I dare not touch you!"
Xie Yilu didn't believe his evil: "You try it!"
The common people all came to tug on Xie Yilu's sleeves and put their ear into his ear to persuade him, "Don't confront him head-on, this Ruan Tian is not easy to mess with!"
"That's right, he's used to being fierce and ruthless!"
"This is a group of Annan people (4), so fierce, other husbands dare not mess with them!"
Xie Yilu didn't give in when he said something like that, and Ruan Tian seemed to be happy to fight him, both sides were fighting, and a soft sedan chair was "creaking" from the south end. It was covered with red gauze and emerald green, and it was a female sedan chair from Fireworks Lane. .
Ruan Tian's expression changed, she waved her hand at his men, immediately put away the knife, he passed Xie Yilu, and went up to meet him very attentively, the little prostitute with the sedan chair covered her mouth with a handkerchief, and hurriedly told him What.
"Oh my god," the common people would most likely guess the family's shortcoming, "it came for the tree, and it was appointed!"
Sure enough, the little prostitute pointed to the woods behind the high platform.
Nanjing even prostitutes also have forest products? Xie Yilu was surprised: "Who is here?"
The common people winked: "Ruan Tian's best friend, sister Yangzhou from Zhushi!"
Immediately someone picked up: "It's a thing that the eggs don't even have. If you are like a prostitute, it's a waste of money!"
Xie Yilu frowned, the eunuch is unbearable, but to be said like this is still too much. The little prostitute over there opened the sedan chair curtain, and the sedan chair was actually empty, intending to let Ruan Tian go up, and Ruan Tian did go up, the bearer shouted the chant, turned around and carried it into the city.
Xie Yilu had a stubborn temper and followed along reluctantly. Ruan Tian pushed open the sedan window and looked back, sneered, and spat hard.
Zhushi is in the northeast of Gandaoqiao, not a high-end place, the guests are greeted by private prostitutes, the small road turns and turns, it is very cramped, the sedan chair stops in front of a half-new wooden building, Ruan Tian gets off the sedan chair and goes upstairs, stares at her when she turns around. He gave Xie Yilu a look.
Xie Yilu stood awkwardly downstairs, there were not many people on the street, but they were all prostitutes, and there was carelessness in their eyes inadvertently. Suddenly, crying came from the small window upstairs, crying and crying, Also dropped something.
"Smash it, smash it again, let's see if I still come!" It was Ruan Tian's voice, and then the woman complained softly: "Isn't it just a few trees, you still can't be the master?"
The window slammed shut from the inside, and Xie Yilu suddenly felt that something was wrong. The whole thing was wrong. Liao Jixiang from the Weaving Bureau had been in Nanjing for many years, and the pear tree was there every year. If it was just to blackmail a few small money, would it be difficult for Ruan Tian to spare a few trees he had acquainted with
There was a "dong dong" sound on the stairs, it was the sound of hurried steps downstairs, Ruan Tian came out with a shake of the robe under the corner of the corridor, the woman upstairs was still crying, Xie Yilu stared at him blankly, rather than angry, More puzzled.
Ruan Tian seemed to understand the meaning in his eyes, she changed her former vicious rascal, and instead of turning her head away from him, Xie Yilu grabbed his arm when she turned around: "Does the tree have to be cut down?"
Ruan Tian waved her hand away, but did not answer, and when she was about to get into the sedan chair, she replied sharply, "Not a single one left!"
Qu Feng sat in his soft sedan chair with blue curtains, bouncing slowly on Hubu Street, opened the window of the sedan chair, and asked the leader of the sedan chair, "What's going on today, there's a lot of noise everywhere."
"I heard that the Weaving Bureau wants to cut down dwarf pear trees," Chang Sui smacked his lips, "The common people are all crazy."
"Pear tree?" Qu Feng closed his eyes and rubbed his temples after drinking too much last night, "What's the mess."
"Anyway, our family has no forest products," Chang Sui gloated, "Let them make trouble!"
Qu Feng didn't speak, he didn't care about such "miscellaneous" things at all, he looked at the outside of the sedan chair idly, the whole city of Nanjing seemed to be swollen, the people passing by were in a hurry, and there was a sense of restlessness on both sides of the street.
"Why cut down the tree?"
"I don't know," Chang Sui replied, "It's because the dwarf pear trees are too fragrant and hinder the weaving."
What a shit! Qu Feng sneered, staring casually at the street with a pair of peach blossom eyes. There were gangs of people going out of the city along the way. Occasionally, there were one or two who went against the road, which looked very eye-catching. It happened that there was one in front of his sedan chair, wearing a bean-blue crepe sticker, Limping, as if falling.
He was dressed as a low-level eunuch of low rank, purely out of compassion, he was fascinated to see that the man's hat and trousers were covered with mud, and he stopped and walked, obviously the fall was not light.
"Get off the sedan chair," he slapped the top of the sedan chair with the handle of his fan, "the one in blue in front, stop him."
The long follower was very contemptuous: "Dirty and cheap, what do you ask him to do."
"The head is at the Ministry of War. I'll walk over there. Ask him where he's going, and send him a ride."
The long follower was not happy, it was an insult to his family who was an imperial official: "Master, don't you usually hate those rootless slaves the most?"
Qu Feng's face turned cold: "Why, I can't call you?"
The long follower said "Don't dare" and hurried up, Qu Feng got off the sedan chair, raised his head, and walked gracefully, passing the poor man, he didn't even want to stop, just arrogantly He glanced back, but this time, he froze.
The man had a slender face, phoenix eyes, a high nose bridge, and a small mole under his right eye. He recognized Liao Jixiang's right-hand man, Jintang from Korea.
Jintang also recognized him, although he had no friendship before, but he had met him in official circles, he half turned around with his front flap up, it seemed that he wanted to get into the sedan chair, but now it looked like Qu Feng's sedan chair, so he hesitated again.
The two stared at each other. If Qu Feng knew it was him, he would definitely not be kind enough to borrow the sedan chair. Jin Tang also saw it. The moment they looked at each other, a sharp disgust flashed in the man's eyes.
Jintang paid his respects first, and Qu Feng immediately returned the salute. Both of them were silent. After a long time, Qu Feng gritted his teeth and said without embarrassment: "I'm sorry."
There was no emotion on Jintang's face, and he explained indifferently: "I came out to do some work, but I was bumped into by the refugees who were driving out of the city."
Why do you have to dress up as an inferior eunuch? Qu Feng didn't point it out, his eyes moved, and he pointed to the sedan chair reluctantly: "Please get on the sedan chair."
It was difficult for him, it was one thing to praise the little fireman on a whim, but it was another thing to give up the sedan chair to Dadang's minions, and he couldn't tell if it got out.
Jintang understood his situation and was somewhat grateful for his kindness, but the disgust in his eyes was also real. I don't know if it's because he secretly hated this person, or because of the eunuch's only self-esteem, he pursed his lips and refused: "No need, I can walk."
Qu Feng was very surprised, but he also understood at once. Jin Tang saw the disgust in his heart that he thought was hidden: "Sit down." Not pretty."
Jintang glanced at him sharply, then lowered his head, his face was a little wimpy, that kind of unbearable frailty, if it was a woman, there was something I would feel sorry for, and a man seemed too delicate.
Very slowly, he shook his head: "No, thank you."
This man is so stubborn, Qu Feng thought to himself, with a warm smile on his face: "Well then, please take your time, father-in-law."
A pair of leaves, when the wind blows, suddenly floats to both sides. Qu Feng got on his soft sedan chair, lowered the curtain, raised the sedan chair, and started to walk. The sedan chair trembled again and passed by Jintang. Seeing him limping away, Qu Feng said to himself: "He is Why did you go?"
"Lingfu Temple," the chief follower said from outside, very nonchalantly, "I've seen that big lame man, coming out of the fork in Lingfu Temple."
(4) Annan: Vietnam.