Chapter 92: The Fourth Year of the Great Revelation
After killing the people, the Jin people lifted the oilcloth on the carriage and checked the fine iron. Seeing that there was no problem, they nodded to Wanyan Xun.
Wanyan Xun walked to the sacred eagle sculpture in the center of the yard and turned its eagle claws. The huge sculpture suddenly made a rumbling sound.
Liu Yanzi widened her eyes and saw that after the sculpture turned, a hole more than two feet deep appeared on the ground!
The Jin people threw in the iron blocks, and finally threw in the dead bodies.
Liu Yanzi muttered in her heart: "No wonder I can't find the refined iron in the whole yard, it turns out it is hidden underground..."
After the iron was processed, they moved the sculpture back to its original position, and several people knelt on the ground and worshipped the sculpture. The sacred eagle is the god of the Jin people, and they admire the eagle's sharpness, ferocity and freedom to fly in the sky.
Wanyan Xun muttered a string of golden words. Although Liu Yanzi could not understand them, she understood that he was praying for their totems to bless them to capture Daqi as soon as possible.
After the ceremony, Liu Yanzi quietly left, preparing to tell Bai Yizhou about the mechanical cave.
"These are furs from Dayuan, top-quality furs. Take a look." Bai Yizhou still disguised himself as a foreign merchant, squatting near Baixiang Tower selling furs.
Suddenly he saw an acquaintance standing at the door of the backyard of Baixiang Tower, looking inside, and then walked into Baixiang Tower.
"Go away, we haven't seen any caravan, let's look somewhere else." The waiter drove the man out.
"Impossible, my father and his men clearly drove a horse-drawn carriage into the backyard of your restaurant." The man was none other than the son of the groom who had come to deliver the goods some time ago.
"If you say you haven't seen it, then you haven't seen it. Are you going to leave or not? If you don't leave, I will report it to the police!"
The man was so scared that he ran out immediately, but still stood at the backyard door, refusing to leave.
"How much is the fur?" A figure stood in front of Bai Yizhou.
Bai Yizhou raised his head: "Brother Liu, you are back!"
"What are you looking at?"
Bai Yizhou pointed at the person at the door and said, "That person must be from the caravan. I don't know why he was left outside and not allowed in."
Liu Yanzi looked in the direction he pointed and hurried over.
"Little brother, you are from another place, right?"
The groom's son looked at Liu Yanzi warily, somewhat confused.
Liu Yanzi opened her fan and covered her mouth with it, whispering, "I know you are delivering goods to the adults. The caravan left through other gates, and Uncle Qiu specifically asked me to come find you."
As soon as the man heard the name Old Qiu, he immediately let down his guard, "Uncle Qiu asked you to come? Why didn't they tell me and just left on their own? Then go quickly." With that he left with Liu Yanzi.
Bai Yizhou also packed up his things and followed the two. He didn't know what happened in the yard, and thought Liu Yanzi just wanted to trick this person over to question him.
On the way, Liu Yanzi calmly inquired about the details of the caravan, but the boy was very tight-lipped and she couldn't get a single truth out of him.
Turning the corner, Liu Yanzi pointed to an inn ahead and said, "It's right in front."
The moment the man was distracted, he suddenly felt a pain in the back of his neck and was knocked unconscious.
Bai Yizhou quickly ran over to hold the man back: "Why did you knock him out?"
"Get it to your grocery store first."
The two returned to the grocery store, and Liu Yanzi told Bai Yizhou what she had seen in the backyard of Baixianglou.
"There's actually a hole in the backyard of Baixiang Tower?!"
"Yes, the Jin people hid all the iron blocks there."
Bai Yizhou frowned, his face not looking good: "If it's a cave, it's fine. But I'm afraid the Jin people have evil ambitions and dug a tunnel directly outside the pass. I'm afraid the fine iron can't be recovered."
This would explain how the Jin people were able to transport so much fine iron despite the strict border defenses.
Liu Yanzi took a sip of tea and said, "I thought everyone in the caravan was dead, but I didn't expect that there was one left. I can interrogate him and ask who sent him."
Bai Yizhou took a basin of cold water and poured it on the man's face. After a few choking coughs, the man slowly woke up. He looked at the unfamiliar environment and the ropes tied up his body and was so scared that his face turned blue.
"Mercy, spare my life!"
Bai Yizhou said coldly: "Now I will ask you a question, and you answer it. If you dare to tell me the truth, I will chop you to pieces!"
“Yes, yes, yes!”
"What's your name and where do you live?"
The man trembled and said, "My name is Wang Erlang, and I live in Wangjia Village, Qiumin Town, Shangrao County."
"Did you and your father come here to deliver goods some time ago?"
“Yes… yes.”
"What's on the cart?"
The man pursed his lips and shook his head: "I don't know."
Bai Yizhou slapped Wang Erlang in the face, causing blood to spurt out of his mouth. "I don't know what to say next!"
Liu Yanzi, who was fanning herself next to him, grinned, and the little white boat looked more and more like a general.
"I really don't know!" Wang Erlang knew that if he told the truth he would surely die, but if he didn't tell the truth he might be able to keep his life.
He didn't know who these two men were, nor did he know where his father and the others were. He just hoped that he could survive the interrogation, return to his hometown, and never touch this business again.
"You won't cry until you see the coffin. Do you really think we don't know what you gave to the golden man?"
Wang Er stared at Bai Yizhou with eyes wide open in horror. He actually knew everything?
"You are giving fine iron to the Jin people. You are really tired of living like a centenarian!" Bai Yizhou slapped him hard in the face again, making Wang Erlang dizzy and dazed. He lay on the ground and kowtowed for mercy.
"Please spare my life, sir, please spare my life. I am only responsible for delivering the goods, and I don't know anything else!"
Bai Yizhou spat and said angrily: "Who are you working for? Tell me now!"
Wang Er realized that he could no longer hide it, so he finally said, "I...we are all hired by the Jiangnan Lin family, specializing in delivering goods for the Lin family's store."
"Some time ago, Uncle Qiu... the leader of our caravan said that if we went to Longxiguan City to deliver some goods, we could earn double the money per trip, so we followed him here."
"Uncle Qiu didn't tell us what the cart was carrying on the way. When we got to the destination, we found out it was actually a shipment of fine iron to the Jin people. We were really scared..."
Bai Yizhou heard what he said, and it was similar to what he had heard before. He was furious and said, "You knew it was fine iron, but you still dared to give it to me a second time!"
Wang Erlang lowered his head and dared not say a word. Money is a tempting thing. Having made money once, he would naturally want to make it a second time. But he didn't know that one can make money but not spend it!
Liu Yanzi: "Your father and others were killed by the Jin people."
"Ah!" Wang Er raised his head stiffly as if he was struck by lightning, and looked at him in disbelief.
Bai Yizhou sneered, "You don't believe it, right? If you don't believe it, you can continue to wait at the entrance of Baixiang Tower. The gold appraiser will also drag you in and kill you together."
Wang Er shuddered and finally couldn't control his tears.
Bai Yizhou was too lazy to deal with this traitor and simply ordered his subordinates to drag him out. He then wrote an urgent report and sent it back to the capital.
"Brother Liu, what should we do now?"
Liu Yanzi tapped the handle of her fan and said, "It seems that Shangjing has found out the whereabouts of the official iron and alarmed the Lin family, so they have temporarily stopped sending iron to the Jin people. I will continue to monitor the Jin people in the next few days. Shangjing will definitely take action after receiving the letter."
*
On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, Song Yuzhu, who had gone to the capital, received an urgent military report from Longxi.
It was discovered that the mastermind behind this incident was the Jiangnan Lin family, and the Jin people might have dug a tunnel in Longxi.
As the matter was urgent, he immediately wrote back and ordered Bai Yizhou to lead troops to seize Baixianglou, recover the official iron, and fill the tunnel. At the same time, he sent Zhang Qikai as an imperial envoy to Jiangnan to deal with the Lin family's smuggling of fine iron and treason.
Amid the noisy sounds of firecrackers and gongs and drums, the Great Qi Dynasty welcomed the fourth Spring Festival.
Three years of recuperation gave the country a new lease of life. The people had some surplus food and went out to buy food and drink for the New Year. Some wealthy families even bought a few feet of flowered cloth to buy new coats for their children.
The old farmer who drove the cart into the city had half a string of copper coins in his waist, which he used to buy meat and fine noodles to make dumplings.
There are two sons sitting on the ox cart. The harvest is good this year, and the two sons have earned a lot of money by building roads. The family can have a good New Year this year!
"Dad, the town is so lively! Look, there are people selling firecrackers!"
The old farmer sighed while smoking his pipe: "I haven't seen such a scene in many years. When I was a child, the town was also so lively. Later, the taxes became heavier and heavier, and everyone couldn't afford to eat. How could there be any extra money for the New Year?"
The eldest son said, "I heard that the tax will be changed next year. Our family will not have to pay so much Ding tax. We only need to pay 240 Wen for eight mu of land!"
The old man put down his pipe and laughed: "The emperor is wise, this is to leave a way for us ordinary people to survive!"
The father and his two sons hummed a country tune, with happy smiles on their faces.
In fact, the wishes of ordinary people are so simple. Being able to eat enough, dress warmly, and avoid natural disasters and man-made disasters is the greatest blessing.
*
On New Year's Eve, Song Yuzhu entertained all the officials at a banquet as usual during the day. The officials could not eat peacefully with him around, so he showed his face and took Zhao Xiao home.
The Song family had already prepared the New Year's Eve dinner, and the second family also came early to spend the New Year with the old lady.
Old Mrs. Song is already sixty-eight years old this year. Her hair is all white, she is confused, and her eyes have cataracts and she can't see clearly.
When Song Yuzhu came to wish her a happy new year, she actually mistook Song Yuzhu for her eldest son Song Lin, and held his hand and refused to let him leave.
It was Qin who stepped forward to help: "Old lady, didn't you want to eat steamed pork ribs with rice flour? I asked the cook to stew a pot for you. The meat is so soft that you can eat it without chewing."
The old lady then let go of Song Yuzhu's hand and said, "Don't put minced garlic in the ribs. I don't like it..."
After coming out of the old lady's room, Song Yutang hurriedly followed her out.
"Greetings, greetings to the emperor." Now Song Yuzhu really didn't dare to let him call him cousin.
"Brother Yutang, what's the matter?"
Seeing that he still addressed him as brother, Song Yutang could not help but feel warm in his heart and said, "I heard that you are planning to send people to England after the New Year?"
"Exactly."
"Can I go with you?"
Song Yutang has done a good job in the Maritime Customs Office in recent years, and his year-end evaluations are always top-notch. He should be able to be promoted to director of the sixth rank next year.
Song Yuzhu didn't expect him to have such an idea. In the past, his cousin had traveled far and wide and did quite well in business. It just so happened that he was in need of someone to take charge of the business with England.
"Going to sea is not as good as walking on land. Do your uncle and aunt agree that you should go?"
When Song Yutang heard that there was a chance, he nodded and said, "My father supports me to go out and explore the world! I have also learned the English language from those foreigners in the past few months, so I will have no problem speaking English when I get there!"
As he spoke, he showed Song Yuzhu a passage of English. Although it sounded a bit stiff, it was completely understandable what it meant.
Song Yuzhu didn't expect that her cousin had put so much effort into it, and said with a smile: "In that case, you can go with us after the New Year."
Song Yutang bowed with joy and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com