This number also surprised Zhao Xing

It was not easy to be a bandit in the Song Dynasty, and the affluent life led to the reluctance of ordinary people to engage in high-risk robbery work. Legend has it that the bandits of Liangshan in the Water Margin rampant throughout Shandong are only thirty-six thieves. But the number of people in front of them is close to the number of Liangshan thieves, and in the Song Dynasty, this is the number of rampant states and counties. Because in a big city like Hangzhou, except for the forbidden army and the box army, the entire armed force is only fifteen foot archers.

In the event of such an armed force passing through the prefecture and county, it should be reported immediately according to the regulations, and the imperial court will send additional troops and horses to suppress it. From Zhao Xing, the news was transmitted to the Privy Council in the capital, and the news was delivered to the relevant personnel by official documents, and it would take three months to dispatch troops to Hangzhou. Three months later, Zhao Xing's castle ...... So under normal circumstances, the bandits are directly facing the fifteen foot archers.

In this case, if the Song Dynasty wanted to run rampant in the world, it was enough to gather more than 30 thieves. However, it is not easy to find more than thirty people who are all thieves in this era of pursuit of enjoyment.

Zhao Xing was thinking with Shen Kuo here, and at the gate of the castle, the fire ballista shot the fire crossbow of the whole car. The three brothers hurriedly added new crossbow arrows, and soon, Zhao Xing and the black Tyson stood side by side in the middle of the road with shields, leading the way. The fireballista carts were on both sides of the road, and as they moved in unison, 50 other burghers followed closely behind them with crossbows in their hands. After the team was empty, Shen Kuo stood at the gate of the fort and hesitated, and finally caught up with Zhao Xing's footsteps.

Through the smoke released by the firebolt. The wharf area is already clearly in sight, the explosion just now caused several small boats docked at the wharf to float scattered in the water, the wreck area, scattered goods floating all over the water, the bandits who are anxious to leave are desperately pushing away those floating objects, at the same time, the largest cargo ship in the dock area has sporadic musket sounds, from time to time someone jumps from the boat into the water.

Shen Kuo took a deep breath again, he looked at the floating corpses around the big boat, his lips squirming. After a pause, he said, "It's not thirty, it's half a hundred?!" This must not be a bandit. It's a confluence of bandits. ”

While speaking, finally a bandit's boat broke out of the dock and floated downstream along the river, and the other boats struggled to keep up, Zhao Xing waved his hand, and the children around him broke through his figure. Pick up your crossbow and shoot at the boat.

The power of machinery is always better than that of man, and the small bows on the ship are almost no threat to the children, under the intensive fire of the children. Most of the robbers fell overboard. Only the first three ships were lucky enough to escape the range of the crossbow bolts and headed downstream.

Shen Kuo stomped his feet and said in a loud voice: "Brother Liren, intercept it quickly, this is within reach of the fire ballista, let the fire ballista bombard the boat." ”

Zhao Xing grinned: "Today is the seventh!" ”

When the children heard this, they all smiled knowingly.

They set aside some of their men. Grab the hooked spear. Go out in small boats to catch wounded bandits, ignoring the escaped robber boats.

Shen Kuo stomped his feet. said: "Brother Zhao said just now, it is impossible for these people to go against the water after the robbery, it seems that they plan to float down the river to the sea, Brother Zhao, they must have people to meet the local people downstream, once the fish enters the sea, it will be difficult to do." ”

Zhao Xing's feet did not move, he nodded at Jin Buer, Jin Buer immediately took out a few medicine puppets and lit them, with the three explosions of dong dong dong, three green signal flares flew into the air, and immediately, Jin Buer lit two yellow signal flares.

People suffering from depression are in a state of paranoia, Zhao Xing did not answer Shen Kuo, Shen Kuo kept asking, frequently asked Zhao Xing to manipulate the big ship on the dock, go to sea to chase and kill, this kung fu kept hurting the prisoners and was escorted back to the shore, Zhao Xing had no time to interrogate, so he had to deal with Shen Kuo first.

"Brother Shen, Mr. Mengxi, my cargo ship enters the port on the 7th of every month, today is special, my ship has been waiting for my signal at Haikou, I have already signaled just now. It was unfortunate that the thieves went downstream, and no matter how many people they received, they couldn't break through my net. ”

Shen Kuo understood, he sighed, and immediately stared at the group of bandits again: "Are they from Hushan?" Hurry up and ask, such a large group of bandits need to be interrogated. ”

As soon as Shen Kuo's words fell, there were a few bangs downstream, the sound paused, and then two or three more booms, and then everything was calm, Shen Kuo was so anxious that he jumped to his feet, he urged frequently, and Zhao Xing had to reluctantly start interrogating the thief in front of Shen Kuo: "Where are you waiting for?" ”

"Thief bird, grandpa, I don't change my name, I don't change my surname, I don't change my surname, and I can't mix Jianglong 6 Nanshan! What kind of means do you have, come quickly, grandpa frowned, not a hero! A small leader shouted impassionedly.

"Whoa! You're not a hero, you're just a bandit, what kind of hero are you? Zhao Xing took out a dagger from the laces of his boots, looked at 6 Nanshan's forehead with a smile, and said with great interest: "What did you just say, frowning is not a good man, I just happened to be very interested in your brow."

It is said that there is an ancient method of making a cut on the eyebrow with a knife, then burying a person half-in the ground and pouring cement into the wound. After that, people will feel that their heads are very itchy, and the itching is really uncomfortable, but their hands are buried in the soil, and they can't scratch the itch, so they desperately want to get out of the ground. Guess what this effort will be? With this effort, people will come out of the soil, but the human skin will remain in the soil......

Think about it, there is no skin on the whole body, it is all bright red meat, and the wind blows on the meat, which makes it more itchy and painful...... What you just said, you won't frown, will you - come on, prepare a human pit for me immediately. ”

6Nanshan's face changed, and his lips trembled and he couldn't speak. Cheng Shuang walked up to him, looked at him curiously, and said solemnly: "Teacher, his legs have been shot through, and the skin on his shoulders has also been shot holes, we need to prepare more mercury, so as not to leak out of those three holes." ”

Shen Kuo explained attentively beside him: "This is an ancient criminal law, and the legend is that it is used to leave people. How do you know about this ancient criminal law? ”

6Nanshan could no longer hold it back, he collapsed on the ground and shouted hoarsely: "Spare your life, your lord, spare your life." ”

Zhao Xing shook the knife, sighed regretfully, apologized to Shen Kuo first, and said, "Mr. Mengxi, this person is going to be recruited, it seems that I can't play this criminal law to you today." ”

Then, he turned to 6 Nanshan. Asked: "6 Nanshan, right, you better be a strict one today, let me ask you, are you from Hushan?" ”

"That's right!" Shen Kuo chattered beside him: "Hushan 6 clan." During the rebellion of Hou Jing, he entered the mountains and built a stone city to live in. When I built Mengxi Garden, I hired a person, who was the Hushan 6 clan. I heard that this area is a den of bandits in Taihu Lake, and the biggest bandits in the vicinity come from Hushan. ”

Shen Kuo didn't say all this, the complete sentence was: This 6 clan also came to Zhaoxing Castle with him. After that, the 6th family quit his job and returned to his home.

6 Nanshan on the opposite side hurriedly added the missing part of Shen Kuo. He was lying on the ground. Weak adding: "...... My 6 brothers were on the first boat. We inquired, and on the seventh day of every month, we docked on the big boat, and then started trading in the grass market not far away.

Originally, we wanted to grab a handful in the grass market, but we didn't expect that today it was the seventh, but the left waiting boat did not come, and the right waiting boat did not come, and the brothers had no choice but to do it first. Didn't expect ......"

Under Zhao Xing's questioning. 6 Nanshan's detailed explanation: After the 6 brothers who followed Shen Kuo to the castle returned, they introduced the wealth in the castle. The prosperity of the grass market near the castle is also described. What is especially coveted is that the grass market near the castle is still outside the government, and since it does not pay taxes to the government, it does not even have a place to sue after being robbed.

The huge interests made the bandits in Hushan very tempted, but the castle of Zhao Xing brought too much oppression, so they sent several spies to investigate and made a detailed plan. They planned to wait for the cargo ship on the Zhaoxing wharf to enter the port, cross the wharf to rob the grass market, and then float down the river, enter the sea, and then find a random place to dock. Escape from the hunt.

But the first spy they sent was greedy for a moment, and planned to sneak into the castle, and take advantage of the fact that the castle was full of people, and could steal a few things by the way...... Unexpectedly, his whereabouts were revealed by Jin Fuji's dog......

After the dock spy disappeared, the robbers who were ready to answer the dock guessed that he might have infiltrated the castle, so they sent a second group of men into the city to inquire about his companions, but they were found and blocked in the basement and smoked to death by Zhao Xing with soot......

The bandits were afraid of startling the snakes, so they decided to do it after deliberation. In their minds, if they have many people, the people in the castle will not dare to pursue, and if the big ship on the Zhaoxing dock lifts anchor to chase after them...... As long as they are quick with their hands and feet, they may not wait for the big boat to catch up, and the boat has already rushed out of the estuary.

It's a pity that although the plan is beautiful, the truth of Zhaoxing's wharf is beyond the scope of understanding. First of all, although there are many ships passing near the wharf, but each passing ship has a tacit understanding, their own ships will not be hindered in any way, directly docking, not their own boats, people who are familiar with this route will sail in the center of the river, in order to free up the left channel of the river to facilitate Zhao Xing's entry and exit from the port, otherwise, such ships will be strictly checked, and even sunk.

The boat on the river is no better than walking on the ground, once the anchor is lifted, the boat will drift down the river like a thirsty horse running to the spring, and the brakes cannot be stopped. The bandits were originally waiting for news upstream, waiting left and right to see the cargo ship enter the port, a robber who was anxious saw a big ship parked on the dock, thinking that the cargo ship had already entered the port, he gave a signal, and the upstream bandits set off, and waited to sail into the Jasmine Courtyard, but now the situation is not right, it is too late to turn around.

Originally, they planned to quietly bypass the dock area and go to the downstream grass market to land, but these boats were too unfamiliar, and the people on the river asked casually, they panicked, and began to implement the second set of plans.

The second plan was to blow up the gate of the castle with the gunpowder brought by the ship, so that the people in the castle could not get out, so that they could loot the dock and the grass market below. However, due to the death of the previous two groups of spies, the people of Hushan were afraid of startling the snakes, so they hurriedly attacked without understanding the terrain of the wharf, and waited for their ship to dock, only to find that their boat was too small, the freeboard was too low, and the embankment in the wharf area was too high, and they could not climb up at the low level.

As a last resort, some bandits detonated the explosives ship......

What followed was a mess. The bandits' plans were all in vain, and they had to continue to block the city gates with their feet deep in the mud. By the way, rob the ship that was blown up and sunk on the pier so as not to return empty-handed. In the midst of the chaos, they encountered an unimaginable counterattack, and as a result, the whole operation was completely defeated.

6 Nanshan had just finished explaining, and Zhao Xing's dock came again, and the three big ships slowly approached the dock with their own signals, and dragged the captured small sampans behind them, and docked to the berths in turn under the guidance of the dock.

This time, the bandits kicked the iron plate in a dignified manner.

There is not one, but three cargo ships waiting downstream. It is rare for three cargo ships to enter the port at the same time. The main cargo on these ships was soldiers, and Zhao Xing's group of Mamuliuke slave soldiers, who had not been seen for a long time, also arrived, as well as forty other Gurkha slave soldiers.

Zhao Xing also did not expect three ships to enter the port, and two of the three ships were agreed with Zhao Xing: one cargo ship departed from Changhua. loading part of the force he left in Hainan; A cargo ship departs from Vietnam to carry Chen Yiyi's dowry warriors and maids. And the cargo ship that came out of the redundancy came from the Wa Kingdom, and when it showed its flag, Zhao Xing was also stunned.

Zhao Xing's castle was too big, and after the workers withdrew, he also felt that he was short of manpower. Therefore, some people were transferred from Nanyang to strengthen the defense. Since the ship was carrying more sensitive armed men, he ordered the ship to stay at the mouth of the sea until late at night. Wait for the fireworks to be set off in the castle. They crept closer to the dock...... This is just in time to meet the fleeing bandits.

It was Genyehei who got off the boat, his head was scattered, his clothes were covered with a large ball of blood, and he was carrying a katana, he jumped off the boat quickly, and his blood-stained hands brushed his beautiful face. Pull a few tips behind your ears. It was indescribably poignant. When he saw Zhao Xing, he breathed a sigh of relief. The body also seemed to be weak, and he took a few breaths with the knife before he said lightly: "It's okay to leave the brother, okay, that's it." ”

Zhao Xing touched his nose and said to himself like Shen Kuo: "Today is all an accident, a series of accidents." Thankfully, these accidents constituted a stroke of luck. ”

At this moment, it was already a little dark.

The battle just now is not long, it is not short, measured by modern time, it is only an hour, from the beginning of the sunset, to now, the twilight is vast.

The servants lit torches, and the new samurai on the two big ships, with the cooperation of the castle students, began to sort out the wreckage on the dock, Zhao Xing glanced at the slightly dilapidated dock, and said distressedly: "It's a pity, it took me five years to build this dock, and it was ......."

Yuan Yeping finished breathing, straightened up and looked at the dock, and comforted: "Brother Zhao doesn't need to worry, I think this dock can still be used, the gunpowder just now also injured a little edge, as long as the people are safe." ”

Shen Kuo had already climbed onto the ballista to study it, he pulled out a rocket from the hive of the ballista, looked at it over and over, and muttered in his mouth: "It's strange, how is this arrow made of the tip of the vertebrae, made round, this kind of craftsmanship, it's amazing." ”

Zhao Xing waved his hand, and the servants began to carry the wounded bandits into the castle. Thinking of the officials in the Blue House, Zhao Xing was worried about the wives and concubines who cared about him, so he hurriedly pulled Shen Kuo and beckoned Shangyuan Yeping to go to the castle, and as for the dock area, the affairs of the dock area were left to Cheng Shuang.

When Shen Kuo left, he didn't mean to put the gunpowder arrow in his hand back, he looked at the gunpowder arrow in his hand as he walked, muttering in his mouth, as if he was deliberating on its production. After scrutinizing for a while, he raised his face, shook the gunpowder arrow and asked Zhao Xing: "Leaving people, how did this thing be made?" There was a rustling sound inside, why was the gunpowder so unreal? ”

Zhao Xing spoke to Yuan Yeping just now, and Shen Kuo asked directly, regardless of it. forced Zhao Xing to turn his face to face Shen Kuo.

Shen Kuo is too persistent, if you don't answer the questions he asks, he will ask them repeatedly. For the sake of the other party's age and so focused, Zhao Xing was soft-hearted for a while, and he couldn't care about the other party's informant character, and said frankly: "There are two ways to use this kind of vertebral tip, one is to use gypsum instead of sand and stone fan to make a mold, and the cast vertebral tip is very standardized, and the other is to use the stamping method to stamp out a vertebral tube...... Ah, gypsum, that is, cold water stone. ”

Shen Kuo let out a long sigh, continued to look at the gunpowder arrow in his hand over and over again, and walked until he walked to the door of the Blue House Hall, and Zhao Xing found an opportunity to snatch the gunpowder arrow from Shen Kuo's hand. With a haha, he said: "Mr. Mengxi, there are candles everywhere in the hall, and it is really dangerous for this thing to be brought into the hall." ”

Shen Kuo was stunned for a moment, and asked reluctantly, "Can I take another look at it?" I'd like to see it again tomorrow during the daylight...... Mold, do you mean plaster mold, I know this thing, and I want to see how it is made. ”

Zhao Xing was stunned for a moment, and reluctantly said, "Okay." I'll wait for you tomorrow! ”

But Shen Kuo had no intention of leaving, he stood by the door and waited for Zhao Xing to open the door, Zhao Xing painfully pushed open the heavy castle door, and waited to see the scene in the castle. Stunned.

The Song Dynasty was so hedonistic, the noise on the dock had subsided for a long time, and no one in the castle wanted to go out to see, and they got together and had fun again.

In the center of the hall, Liao Xiaoxiao was wearing a colorful dress. Singing "Beauty Song" there, she sang the "Beautiful Woman in the North" over and over again, of course, this song was also taught to her by Zhao Xing. The version sung by Suman is adopted.

The lyrics of this song are written by Li Yannian. The song was composed by the famous Japanese composer Shigeru Umebayashi, who completely used the instruments of the Song Dynasty to produce this song full of Song rhyme. The main theme is Xi Qin, plus a plucked music like a cry, a soft reminder of the ringtone, and the grievance is soft:

"There are beautiful women in the north,

Peerless and independent.

A look at the city.

In the country of Gu Tilting people.

Rather not.

Allure and country,

Beauty is hard to come by. ”

Liao Xiaoxiao sang untouchingly. Facing the gate, Chen Yiyi slapped excitedly, as if Liao Xiaoxiao's song was dedicated to her, but Zhao Xing noticed that when Liao Xiaoxiao sang this song, her face was full of narcissism. Yuan Yeping never had time to explain to Zhao Xing how he would go back to Hangzhou, and he didn't have a chance to explain this kung fu, as soon as he saw those famous masters of the Celestial Dynasty in the hall, he began to drool, and immediately ran to Su Shi like a pug, looking at the back drooling, and kept looking at Qin Guan, looking at Mao Peng, and seemed to see a lot of delicious food. Zhao Xing knew that at this time, you just asked him who his wife was, and he couldn't remember, how could he talk about business. Gu salivated at Su Shi, looking at Qin Guan,

Shen Kuo stood at the gate, but no one else dared to greet him, everyone turned a blind eye to him, listened to him, but Shen Kuo didn't feel embarrassed at all, he first swept the hall, muttered in his mouth: "The echo is too good", and then looked down at the ground. After observing for a moment, he lay on the ground without caring about the image, knocking on the tiles.

The ground in the Blue Tile Terrace is paved with large high-temperature tiles, the tile area is very large, it is decorated with a faint pattern, the center of the hall on the first floor is paved with a circular pattern, the center of the circle is the traditional cloud dragon pattern, Shen Kuo lay on the ground, tapped the tile with his fingers, listened to the hollow sound of the tile, looked at Zhao Xing in wonder, and asked: "Empty?" Is there an empty underneath the tile? How? ”

When Zhao Xing came in, the sound of opening the door had attracted everyone's attention, but when everyone saw Shen Kuo in the team, they immediately looked away from the fire, pretending that there was no one in the team at all, only Liao Xiaoxiao in the center of the field shook a wink at Zhao Xing, and then continued to sing intently.

Chen Yiyi listened very attentively, and there was no Zhao Xing coming in at all, she clapped her hands while listening.

Everyone pretended to be serious and didn't hear Shen Kuo's question, Zhao Xing had to deal with it reluctantly, he smiled and replied: "Mr. Mengxi, all the corridors and two rooms in the entire Blue House are the same as this hall, and this building technique is used. The underside of the tiles is not completely empty, and nine light bronze cups are placed under each tile in the form of a nine-square lattice, which is done to increase the echo. ”

Shen Kuo's erudition was not something that Zhao Xing could fool around, he nodded, and immediately replied: "This is a drum hall and drum gallery built according to the ancient law, the ancient king built such a drum hall and drum gallery to prevent assassination, and it is said that such a corridor and hall can turn the slight footsteps into a loud bell, so that the assassins who sneak in cannot hide." ”

Zhao Xing smiled reluctantly and replied, "What do I need to prevent assassination...... Like you said, it's called the Drum Hall, but it's for singing and dancing, and when you play music in a place like this, you don't think the music is particularly pleasant, and the singing is especially melodious...... You see, how intoxicating and beautiful is Little Miss Liao's singing? ”

Shen Kuo got up neatly, didn't even dust off the soil on his body, stared at Zhao Xing with a focused expression and asked, "There are two halls that are so arranged, where are they?" I'll take a look. ”

Zhao Xing's eyes rolled, and he beckoned the black slave Cindya with a bitter face, and instructed in Hu language: "Take him to the Tianlai Hall, and then lead him to the study to turn the book by him, staring at him, and writing down every book and page he flipped...... He may be allowed to transcribe, but he is not allowed to go out at will. If necessary, it can be stopped by force. Also, the books in the cabinet of words forbade him to read them. ”

Cindya agreed in Hu language, picked up Shen Kuo, and left quietly. After Shen Kuo left, Zhao Xing seemed to be relieved when he heard the people in the audience in unison. Originally, the sound of people panting was very small and it was usually difficult to hear, but in this special hall, many people gasped together, and the sound was as loud as a shout, even covering Liao Xiaoxiao's singing.

At this moment, Chen Yiyi finally showed Zhao Xing, who had returned, and she clapped her hands and preemptively said what everyone wanted to say: "Look, I knew that my husband was fine, just a few little thieves, as soon as my husband went out, they would only want to escape." Official, how many were caught? Where did the thief come from? Are our people hurt? ”

Fa Cao Mao squeezed in front of Zhao Xing, and before he could speak, Su Shi came over, and he hurriedly turned to one side to let Su Shi go. Before Su Shi could speak, Yang Zuren also rushed over, Su Shi turned to the side again, letting Yang Zuren go first, Yang Zuren looked at Zhao Xing's armor, and said enviously: "I hate to put it on again...... Leaving people, who are the people outside? How many bandits are there? ”

Zhao Xing replied: "There are about fifty of them." ”

"Hiss", the audience was filled with the sound of inhalation.

Zhao Xing continued: "I caught some injuries, some people confessed that they came from the upper reaches of Hushan, and some of them, I didn't have time to interrogate, looking at the outfits, it seems that several gangs of bandits joined forces, according to their confessions, they originally wanted to rob the grass market near the ferry, but they were stopped at the ferry."

Facao Mao couldn't sit still, he arched his hand and motioned to Zhao Xing: "Brother Zhao, what do you think ......?" ”

"Naturally, it's you who will interrogate - I can't leave today", Zhao Xing replied slyly.