After hearing this, Wu Yan squinted at the unconscious man on the floor, and said with a change in his face: "This person was washed by the river the day before yesterday, and he was fortunately rescued by us. If it is a Khitan, it is also a bitter disaster suffered by the Mongols, and save him and accompany him, it is up to him to land wherever he wants. ”

The guys in the ship naturally listened to the owner's words, and each curled up in the corner of the cabin, napping and resting, only the unconscious man, who was lying naked on the floor without paying attention, fortunately the season was warm, and he was not afraid of freezing.

Time passed, and in a blink of an eye it was midnight, the moon and stars were scarce, and the bright hall illuminated the river, Wu Yan instructed the men to quietly pull up the mast, pull on the full sail, and everyone rowed together, flew out of the reeds like arrows, and went downstream towards the Han River, in a panic.

Fortunately, the river bank was lively during the day, but there was no movement at night, and I don't know if the Song people and the Mongols who were fighting were asleep, anyway, Wuyan's boat floated all the way down the river, and did not encounter obstacles, and drove out far in one breath, and when it was dawn, it went out of the waters of the river valley and entered the boundary of Henan.

Wuyan and others hung a heart, and they never dared to relax, Henan was full of beacons, and there were scattered stragglers everywhere, as the saying goes, stragglers were ruthless than bandits. This is true, often after the war of the military disaster, the evil is the stragglers, these people have the strength of the sword, three or five in groups, no discipline, and in the war psychological imbalance, distorted mentality, do no money to buy ** horse thieves and cruel, rob money and goods and kill people and set fire, Wuyan and his party out of the war zone, do not dare to dock to the shore to live in the store, along the way to see the city on both sides of the strait is mostly dilapidated, the population is withered, in the past some prosperous wharf corpses are everywhere, the Mongolian army swept after the tragic appearance is unbearable to witness.

The big man on the ship woke up on the fourth day.

In order to prevent accidents, Wu Yan and others checked this person's body first, there were no tattoos or anything like that, and they couldn't find any tokens to prove their identity, of course, this guy was slick and there was nowhere to put it.

There was a bag of the boss in the back of his head, probably formed by something in the water, which is why he was unconscious.

Uyan tied him up with twine, so when he woke up, his eyes were confused, and he obviously didn't understand where he was.

Seeing him struggling to sit up and looking around, a fellow who happened to be in the cabin hurried out and called down the proprietor Wuyan, who was looking vigilantly on the deck.

When Uyan went down to the cabin, he saw the big man who was tied up, looking at him naked.

His eyes were sharp, although he didn't have a wisp but sat upright, the big man was full of muscles, hard as a rock, there were vertical and horizontal wounds on his body, knife wounds and arrow sores were shocking, when he stared at Wu Yan proudly, Wu Yan, who had traveled south and north and read countless people, unconsciously bold, felt an inexplicable deterrence, rushing to his face.

After a pause, Wu Yan stabilized his emotions, and was surprised to find that the man was tied up and carrying a knife at his waist, so he breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down in front of the big man. He asked in Khitan dialect.

"Who are you, O Naman? What is your name? ”

Here, he played a trick and deliberately used the Khitan dialect first, if the Han showed a blank meaning, it was undoubtedly the Mongols, and he directly called people in, cut them with knives and threw them into the water.

Dahan didn't answer immediately, just stared at him, his eyes flickering, not knowing what he was thinking.

Just when Wuyan was about to call someone to chop the knife, the Han spoke, he said in fluent Khitan language: "This official, I am a Xijing clan, named Shi Mo Ruan, the ancestor is the Khitan Thorn Division, has been living in Xijing Aborigines, this year Mongolia recruited the husband to attack the Song State, I was pulled into the army, as an errand, with the army into the Hanshui River Valley, in the valley in the Song people's scheme, the flood broke the army, I was wrapped in the flood, drowned half to death, I thought it must be returned to the west, but I didn't expect to be able to wake up here, I don't know if this official can tell, where is this place?" Who are the officials? ”

When he spoke, Wu Yan had been paying attention to this person's reaction, but when he saw that he came as soon as he opened his mouth, his words were fluent, he did not drag his mud and water, he did not look like he was lying, his eyes were motionless, and he did not look like a liar's eyes were dripping and rolling, and he spoke so vigorously that even his ancestors said it in one breath, and he believed it in his heart.

So Wu Yan frowned and said: "I am also a Xijing clan, an ordinary market vendor, my name is not enough for outsiders, my buddy and I were originally trafficking goods from Hanshui, on the way I saw you drifting down the river, out of pity to save you, you don't need to thank me, this troubled world is the way, if you can help, you can help." ”

He asked someone to bring a sackcloth and loosened the tie for the big man, covered him with the clothes, and said: "Our ship has passed Junzhou, and now it is heading towards Xiangyang, there are military disasters along the way, and we dare not stop the ship to dock, you have left the army anyway, if you want to go back, you can live for a while after I get off the goods in Xiangyang, and wait for the road to be more peaceful, and then set off to return." If you don't want to, you can also get off the boat in front and leave on your own. ”

"Xiangyang?" The big man's face turned white, and he seemed to have heard some surprising news: "That is the land of the Song people!" ”

"yes." Wu Yan got up, since he knew that this person was a Khitan and not a Mongol, he didn't have to worry about it, the ship hadn't reached a safe place yet, he had to go up to the deck to keep an eye on it, he waved his hand at the big man: "Wait a minute, go get a penny to help support the boat, I see that you are very strong, and you can't eat rice." ”

With that, he left, leaving the big man alone to dress himself.

The big man was also obedient, and after putting on his clothes, he went to the bow of the boat in a moment to help the guys work, the big man was very diligent, but a little clumsy, muscular but not good at doing some rough work, clumsy and clumsy, holding the boat and pulling the sail looked like a layman, laughing so that the guys leaned forward and back, and kept teasing him.

Dahan was not annoyed and angry, but just did things silently.

Some people saw that his palms were full of calluses, and thought it was strange, and asked him: "The calluses in your hands are so thick, and you are also a rough person who works, what do you do at home?" ”

The big man replied, "The villain also helps the rich man to work long at home, and he works in the fields, and also herds some cattle and sheep, which has never been done before. ”

Everyone said: "No wonder, even so, you have to be diligent, learn some water skills, and have one more craft in the future." ”

This is said with a smile, and it has the meaning of treating the big man as a laborer, but the big man agreed again and again and agreed to it.

Seeing that the ship was getting closer and closer to Xiangyang, and there was another strong laborer on the ship who could be bullied and called for free, everyone was very happy, and felt that this Khitan man was very good, and understood that he was helpless and had to be obedient, and Wuyan even moved the idea of accepting this person as a domestic slave.

It's just that no one noticed, when no one was paying attention, the big man sat in the corner of the boat, looking coldly at a boatload of people, the killing intent in his eyes was so sharp, and the thick calluses on his hands, if you look at it by a veteran, you can see at a glance that it is the hand that holds the knife all the year round, and it will give birth to such calluses.

A few days later, the high water gate of Xiangyang stood in the sun's light and shadow on the horizon.

(End of chapter)