On the south bank of the Yellow River, between the wheat fields and the green crops, three men in short clothes were hurrying along with their donkeys. Unexpectedly, a group of officials wearing caps and black boots came over and stopped them.
Among the officers, there was only one green-robed official on horseback, who pointed his whip at the three men and said, "What are you doing?"
A big man with a big belly grabbed the donkey and came forward, bowing and saying: "We are buying some rare goods and selling them back in the village."
When the officer heard the man's Kaifeng accent, he didn't even ask where they were from, and said coldly: "You are not selling contraband salt, are you?"
The big man with a round belly said in horror: How dare we? We are all honest people. We earn our money through hard work and never commit crimes.
Search the green-robed official at the command.
The big man with a round belly and a few others hurriedly told the officers to be gentler. The gang took the sack off the donkey's back, cut the rope with a knife, untied it and checked the contents. After looking for a while, they found some food, furs and other things. An officer turned around and clasped his fists and said: There is only a small bag of salt. The big man with a round belly hurriedly said: It's less than a pound, that's for us to eat, you can't sell salt in such a small amount
The green-robed official shouted, "It is people like you who don't stay at home to farm and run around everywhere that are most likely to commit crimes."
The three men hurriedly picked up the sacks, led the donkey and left. Their hands were tied with rags, but the inspector did not notice.
When they were far away, a man started to curse: Damn it, if it were back then, we would have beaten that guy to death.
Another man looked at the towering city wall in the distance and said, "Captain Li, Tokyo City is just ahead. Should we go in?"
Li Dutou was the big man with a round belly. He responded: There are many officials and soldiers in Dongjing City. We are afraid of being exposed if we are not careful. We are archers. Our left and right hands look different. Experienced soldiers can recognize them. There are some streets and alleys in the suburbs. They are people who live near the city. These places are mixed. Let's find a house there to live. According to the confession of the captives provided by the Northern Han people, the place where armor is made is in the southern suburbs.
I do have good friends in the southern suburbs, the person next to him said.
Li Dutou said: Don't contact anyone for now. We have to be careful with our current identities. We can't judge a person by his appearance.
The group arrived outside Tokyo, where there were many city blocks. The government had renovated and governed these places near the city. The main streets from north to south were relatively clean, but the alleys in the neighborhoods were unsightly, with many dilapidated houses. The three found a remote dilapidated house and rented it.
The next day they rode donkeys to a market in the south near the Bian River. The market there was very prosperous, and the houses were well-built. It looked more spacious and neat than the streets near the Tokyo city wall. Li Dutou wandered around the dirt streets and asked around. This market has only appeared in the past two years. It is mainly a armor-making workshop by the Bian River. There are many craftsmen helping the transporters. The craftsmen are rich, so all kinds of peddlers from nearby shops come here; many craftsmen with families even live here because the armor-making workshop is very noisy.
Li Dutou took a look around and found that all the houses were newly built and the roads were all dirt roads. There were only some simple fences around the town. There was an archway at the entrance of the road, and there was no gate.
After they had a plan, they bought some things in the nearby town, got a cart, put the donkey on the cart, and left the town carrying all the things needed to set up the tea and pancake stall.
When they arrived at the Armor Making Workshop, Li Dutou and the others were also surprised to see the grand scene. A wide waterway was dug on the east side of the Bian River to divert the river water to a valley in the west. Then the waterway and many gates were built horizontally, and the river water poured down from above like a waterfall. There were houses in clusters up and down the valley, surrounded by a circle of earth walls, and the huge clanging sounds inside were continuous. There were also horse heads on the water diversion channel, and various boats traveled between them.
The three of them followed the road to the entrance of the workshop area and planned to pretend to set up a tea stall to see the situation first.
Unexpectedly, as soon as they got there, they saw a tea stall there. The three of them looked at each other in surprise. It was morning, and there were no customers at the tea stall. There was only a middle-aged man sitting there, looking at the donkey cart of Li Dutou and others with unfriendly eyes.
Li Dutou and others drove the donkey to the side of the road, then sat down on the wooden bench and said calmly: Bring me three bowls of tea to quench your thirst.
The man responded and slowly scooped three bowls of tea and brought them up one by one. Only then did Li Dutou realize that the stall owner's left sleeve was empty, as if he was disabled.
Here, look over there. The stall owner smiled and raised his head towards the entrance of the workshop wall. Li Dutou and others had already seen the soldiers in armor and weapons at the entrance of the village.
The stall owner laughed and said: You can’t set up a stall here. What if you are spies
When the men heard the word "spy", their faces changed slightly. Li Dutou forced a smile and said: "You see, we don't look like spies at all. We are all from Tokyo City. We heard that it is easy to make money here, so we wanted to come and take a look."
The stall owner said calmly: There is a town not far to the south. If you want to do business, go there. Look, there is no stall here except me.
Li Dutou asked: "Brother, how can you do business here?"
The stall owner pointed to his left arm and said: I was working in the workshop. One day, I was on night duty and I was not careful enough. A hammer weighing more than a thousand pounds fell on my hand and I almost lost my life. Now I am disabled. But fortunately, the people in Jiafang Office pay me money every month. Since I can't work, they allow me to do some small business here to make a living. I was originally a craftsman there, so I can stay here naturally.
So you are a royal salaried person. I am so sorry for your disrespect. Li Dutou bowed and asked, "May I know your name, brother?"
Please tell me your surname is Lu. The stall owner Lu said with a smile, "You guys should save yourself some trouble and not try to trick me. It's not that I don't want you to steal business here, but even if I want to, the guard will drive you away."
Li Dutou touched his forehead and said: We already know what's going on. Even if we don't do business with him, we respect people like Brother Lu and want to make friends with him.
The stall owner Haru smiled and took a breath. I didn't understand what you meant, brother. Please tell me.
Li Dutou said a little embarrassedly: To be honest, a few of us neighbors were planning to do some business in the market, but we don’t have any acquaintances here, so we just came here to take a look because we were just driven away.
Stall owner Lu suddenly realized and nodded.
Li Dutou said: We saw a wine shop in the market. After the stall owner Lu closes, you and I brothers can go and have a drink.
After hearing this, stall owner Lu looked delighted. As expected, he was a wine lover and did not refuse.
So Li Dutou and his companions finished their tea, agreed to meet under the archway at 5 p.m., and then left.
At the hour of You, several people met. Stall owner Lu took his things home first and quickly drove out. Several people went straight to the wine shop, ordered wine and food, and after a few cups of wine, everyone quickly became familiar with each other. With wine to cheer them up, the four people at the table wanted to become sworn brothers immediately.
Li Dutou took the opportunity to ask what stall owner Lu did in the workshop before. Stall owner Lu patted his chest and said that he was a master craftsman. After he was injured, the workshop could not operate without him. It was not easy to find another master craftsman to do the work. Li Dutou was impressed and flattered him, saying that it would be a great job if he and his brothers could get in to eat the emperor's salary.
Captain Li continued to ask questions, and after urging him to drink from time to time, he asked some questions, such as how the armor was made in the workshop. Stall owner Lu described it as being true, but he said that his superiors had told him not to talk nonsense, so he was unwilling to elaborate.
The stall owner Lu was very drunk, and the tavern was about to close. Three people came out and one person left in the middle of the meal. At this time, there was an extra carriage outside. Li Dutou and others helped the stall owner Lu, who could not even walk, into the carriage and sent him home.
Stall owner Lu didn't know how he got home. When he woke up, it was already slightly bright outside. He wanted to turn over, but found that he couldn't move his whole body. He felt sore and painful, and there was a piece of cloth stuffed in his mouth.
He looked around and immediately felt something was wrong. This room was shabby and dirty, and it was definitely not his home. He widened his eyes and finally found the man who was dozing on the chair next to him.
The man heard the noise, opened his eyes, stood up, pulled aside a torn curtain, and shouted to the outside in a deep voice. Not long after, the round-bellied man came in.
Li Dutou held a short knife in his hand. After he sat down, he scraped the blade with his left hand. His face was cold, and there was no trace of the polite smile from yesterday. His voice was icy: "Yesterday at 5 pm, you returned to the market from the workshop and parked your car at home. My brother followed you and found out where your home is. You have a son, this tall, about 13 or 14 years old. I am right."
Stall owner Lu widened his eyes.
Li Dutou said: If you don't listen to me, I will bring your son here and stab him to death in front of you, do you understand
Stall owner Lu shook his head in horror, then nodded with a humming sound.
Li Dutou pulled the cloth out of his mouth. Stall owner Lu immediately pleaded: I have no grudge against you, this is
Li Dutou said: Don't worry, my superiors want to find someone who can make armor, the kind made in the workshop. As long as you serve us, not only will you be fine, but you will also be rich and prosperous. Brother Li, you don't have to do the work yourself, we will find craftsmen and you can teach them how to make armor. How
The stall owner Lu had a face full of regret and said with a sad face: I deserve to die just for the sake of boasting. I really can't be a handyman in the workshop. How can a master craftsman move things under the forging hammer
After hearing this, Li Dutou's face turned angry and he took a deep breath: "You have been working in there for so long, you must have seen it."
Stall owner Lu said: I know roughly what is there, and I am familiar with how the armor is forged, but there are a lot of things on the forging hammer, and I don’t understand why it can be moved by itself. The workshop is also strictly controlled. Ordinary craftsmen and handymen can only enter one room; I only work in the forging room. There is also a room called the transmission room next door, which I have never been in. Only the master craftsman of each workshop is allowed to handle all matters.