On the south bank of the Yellow River, between the wheat fields and green crops on the plains, three men in short clothes led donkeys in the dust. Unexpectedly, a group of officials wearing tubes and soap boots came over and stopped them.

There was only one green-robed official on horseback among the officials, who raised his whip and pointed at the three men and said, "What are you doing?" ”

"Woohoo!" At present, a big man with a round belly grabbed the donkey, stepped forward and arched: "The grass people sell some rare goods and go back to the village to sell them." ”

As soon as the official heard that the man spoke with the accent of Kaifeng Mansion, he didn't even ask where they were, and said coldly: "It's not illegal salt?" ”

The round-bellied man said with a frightened face: "How dare you! How dare you? The grass people and others are all responsible people, earn some hard-earned money, and never act as traitors. ”

"Search!" The green-robed official gave an order.

A few people such as the round-bellied man hurriedly asked the officials to lighten up. The men took down the sacks that the donkeys were carrying on their backs, drew their knives and cut the ropes, untied and examined the contents, and after a while, they saw that there was some grain, and all kinds of things, such as skins. An official turned around and clenched his fists and said, "Just a small packet of salt." The round-bellied man hurriedly said beside him: "It's not even a catty, that's what we eat, and we can't sell salt for such a little ......."

"Get out! Get lost! The green-robed official shouted, "It's you people like you who don't farm at home and run around are the easiest to steal chickens and dogs to catch traitors!" ”

The three men hurriedly picked up the sack, led the donkey and left. They all had tattered linen tied to their hands, but the inspector didn't pay attention.

When they were far away, a man scolded and said, "Mother, if in those days, Lao Tzu killed that guy!" ”

Another man looked at the towering tower in the distance and said, "Li Dutou, Tokyo City is just ahead, do we want to enter the city?" ”

Li Dutou was the round-bellied man, and responded: "There are a lot of officials and soldiers in Tokyo, and I am afraid of revealing my stuffing if I am not careful." For those of us who practice archery, the left and right hands look different, and experienced veterans can recognize them. There are some streets and alleys on the outskirts of the city, which are people who live in the city, and these places are mixed, so let's find a house to live in there. According to the confessions of the captives provided by the Northern Han people, the place where the armor was made was in the southern suburbs. ”

"I have friends in the southern suburbs." The man next to him said.

Li Dutou said: "Don't contact anyone first, let's be careful with our identity now, we don't know people but don't know our hearts." ”

The group came to the outside of Tokyo, where there are many castles, and the government has rebuilt and governed the places where these cities are attached to them, and the main streets of the north and south are quite tidy, but the alleys in the neighborhood are unsightly, and there are many broken houses. The three of them found a dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere, paid to rent it.

The next day they rode their donkeys to a market on the south side by Bianshui, where the market was very prosperous, and the houses were in good condition, and they looked more spacious and neat than the streets that bordered the walls of Tokyo. Li Dutou wandered around the dirt roads and alleys to inquire, this market has only appeared in the new past two years, mainly in a piece of armor making workshop by the Bianshui River, there are many craftsmen, helpers, and craftsmen, and the craftsmen have money, so all kinds of shops and peddlers and pawns in the vicinity have come; Many craftsmen with families even live here, because the armor workshop is very noisy.

Li Dutou turned around, and sure enough, he found that all kinds of houses were newly built, the roads were all dirt roads, there were only some simple fences around the town, and a torii was built at the entrance of the main road, and there was no gate.

As soon as they had made a total of them, they bought some things in the nearest town, got a cart, and put the donkeys they had brought with them on the cart. So he left the town with all the things that set up the tea and pancake stands.

When they came to the armor-making workshop, Li Dutou and the others were also taken aback, and saw that the scene was very grand. A wide channel was dug on the east side of the river to lead the river to a valley to the west, and then a waterway and many sluice gates were built horizontally, and the river poured down from above like a waterfall. Up and down the valley, there are a circle of houses, surrounded by a circle of earthen walls, and the huge impact sound of "tinkling and clanging" inside is loud and does not stop. There were also horses' heads on the river that led the water, and all kinds of boats came and went in between.

The three of them followed the road to the entrance of the workshop area, and wanted to pretend to set up a tea stall to see the situation first.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked there, he saw a tea stall there, and the three of them immediately looked at each other. Seeing that the time was in the morning, there were no guests at the tea stall, only a middle-aged man sitting there, looking at the donkey cart of Li Du and others with unkind eyes.

Li Du and the others drove the donkey to the side of the road, then stepped forward and sat down on the wooden bench, and said quietly: "Come to three bowls of tea to quench your thirst." ”

The man answered, slowly scooped up three bowls of tea, and brought them one by one. At this time, Li Dutou found that the stall owner's left sleeve was empty, as if he was disabled.

"Well, look over there." The stall owner smiled and raised his head towards the entrance to the workshop wall. Li Dutou and others had already seen that there were soldiers in armor at the gate of the village.

The stall owner smiled: "Do you want to set up a stall here?" But no, if you are a spy, how can you be born? ”

When a few men and others heard the word spy, their faces changed slightly. Li Dutou smiled and said, "Where do you think we look like spies?" We're all from Tokyo City, and I heard that it's easy to make money here, so I wanted to come and have a look. ”

The stall owner said calmly: "There is a town not far to the south, and I want to do business and go there." You see where the stall is here but me? ”

Li Dutou hurriedly asked, "Big brother, how can you do business here?" ”

The stall owner pointed to his left arm: "I was already working in the workshop, and one day I didn't pay much attention at night, and a hammer weighing more than 1,000 catties fell into my hand!" I almost lost my life, and this is not a disability. But fortunately, the people from the Jiafang Department gave me money every month, and I couldn't work, so I was allowed to do some small business here to make a living. I'm a craftsman inside, so I can be here. ”

"It turns out that the eldest brother is a person who eats imperial food, and he is disrespectful and disrespectful." Li Dutou bowed and said, "I don't know the eldest brother's surname?" ”

"Don't give your surname Lu." The stall owner said with a smile, "You guys, it's better to save some trouble, just don't do it." It's not that I won't let you steal business here, even if I wanted to, the guards would chase you. ”

Li Dutou touched his forehead: "We already know what's going on, even if we don't want to do business, we respect people like Brother Lu, and we want to make friends." ”

"Hah!" The stall owner smiled and took a hissed breath, "I don't understand what brother means...... Let's talk about it. ”

Li Dutou was a little embarrassed and said: "It's not a secret, a few of our neighbors were planning to do some business in the market, but there are no acquaintances here, so they didn't just come here to take a look." ”

The stall owner suddenly realized and nodded.

Li Dutou said: "We saw a wine shop in the market, and after the stall owner Lu took it, how many brothers did you and I go to drink two cups?" ”

The stall owner Lu was overjoyed when he heard this, and he was really a good drinker, so he didn't refuse.

So Li Du and the others finished drinking the tea, made an appointment to meet under the archway, and left first.

When it was time for the unitary, several people met, and the stall owner Lu took the things home first, and quickly rushed out. A few people went straight to the wine shop, asked for wine and food, a few glasses of wine and stomach, everyone quickly became acquainted, and there was wine to help the fun on the table, and the four people were eager to worship as brothers immediately.

Li Dutou took the opportunity to talk and asked the stall owner Lu what he was doing in the workshop before. The stall owner patted his chest and said that he was a master craftsman, and after he was injured, he couldn't start work without that workshop, so he finally found another master craftsman to work. Li Dutou bowed his head and complimented him, talking about how good it would be if his brothers could go in and eat the imperial grain.

Li Dutou continued to talk, and after persuading him to drink from time to time, he asked some things, how did the workshop make nails, and the stall owner Lu said it like that, but he said that the top was not allowed to talk nonsense, and he didn't want to say it in detail.

The stall owner was very drunk, and the liquor shop was about to close, and the three of them came out...... One more person left the table. At this time, there was an extra carriage outside, and Li Dutou and the others helped the stall owner Lu, who couldn't walk, into the carriage and sent him home.

…… I don't know how the stall owner Lu went back, but when he woke up, the sky outside was already slightly bright. He wanted to turn over, only to find that his whole body was shaking, sore and painful, and there was a ball of cloth stuffed in his mouth!

He looked around and suddenly felt that something was wrong, this room was broken and dirty, and it was definitely not at home. His eyes widened, and he finally spotted the man sitting in a chair napping next to him.

When the man heard the noise, he opened his eyes, got up, lifted a broken curtain, and screamed in a deep voice outside. After a while, the round-bellied man came in.

Li Dutou held a short knife in his hand, and after sitting down, the fingers of his left hand lightly scraped on the blade, his face was cold, where was the polite smile of yesterday? His voice was cold: "Yesterday, when you returned to the market from the workshop, you went home first and put the car away; My brother follows and knows where your home is. You have a son, so tall, thirteen or fourteen years old, am I right? ”

The stall owner Lu widened his eyes.

Li Dutou said: "If you don't listen to me, I'll go and get your son over and stab him to death in front of you, understand?" ”

The stall owner shook his head in horror, and nodded with a muffled "whin".

Li Dutou pulled the cloth ball from his mouth. The stall owner immediately pleaded: "I have no grievances with you, this is, this is ......"

Li Dutou said: "Don't worry, I want to find someone who can make armor, the kind of armor made in the workshop." As long as you serve us, not only will you be fine, but you will also be prosperous and rich. Brother Li doesn't have to do the work himself, let's find craftsmen, and you can teach them how to make nails. How is it? ”

The stall owner Lu looked remorseful, and said with a sad face: "I should die!" Just a mouth-smacked ** cow, I really won't ...... In the workshop, he is a handyman, how can a master craftsman go under the hammer to carry things? ”

Li Dutou had anger on his face when he heard this, and he took a deep breath: "You've been working in it for so long, you always see it?" ”

Lu stall owner said: "I probably know something, 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 move on its own...... The workshop is also strictly controlled, and ordinary craftsmen and handymen can only enter one room; I'm just in the forge house. There's also a power room next door, which I've never been in. Only the master craftsman of each workshop is allowed to handle all the things......"