Chapter 844: Willing to cut his body, dare to pull the emperor off the horse

Tongzhou Zhangjiawan Wharf is the end of the river and waterway, 360 days a year, except for the period when the canal is frozen, the rest of the time here is full of traffic and people. The coolies carrying grain bags on the wharf, the boatmen pulling fiber on the canal, the shopkeeper of the horse shop near the Zhangjiawan Wharf, and the small shops selling thick and thin steamed buns and dim sum to eat...... Although it is not as good as the scene of business and travel in Tongzhou City, it is also a famous prosperous place nearby. It's just that now the canal is frozen solid, and it looks deserted and depressed.

But yesterday, the coolies who lived by selling their strength got good news, Zhangjiawan Tongji Warehouse was going to transport grain to the capital, and they had to hire people to load trucks. Although the money from the government is not as good as those merchants who go to the capital to do business on weekdays, it is better to have money than no money when the moon is empty in this cold winter.

It wasn't until the deputy ambassador of the granary came out that a group of coolies swarmed up, and the scene was a little chaotic all of a sudden. The two fat-headed and big-eared ambassadors instinctively took a step back, let the subordinate miscellaneous servants scold them loudly, and then said that they would be paid fifteen cents a day, and then assigned the work.

The salary of fifteen wen is naturally extremely meager, but in the case of not much work in winter, even if everyone knows that the big head must have been deducted by these silverfish, they dare not have any objections, and after agreeing to it, they start to work busily.

This time the grain was transported to the last time of the year, and the Weicang was different, this is the grain that was transferred from the warehouses in Nanjing and stored here, and the purpose of this shipment to the capital was to distribute the rice of most of the officials of the imperial court - after all, there were very few people who could directly support rice from the Beijing warehouse like the British Gong Zhang Fu, and most of them were from the Nanjing warehouse to support the rice, and if they wanted to transport it to Beijing for use, they had to pay for each stone of rice. At this moment, one by one coolies carried the heavy bags to the cart, and some people went to inquire about the work of driving to the capital division, and when they learned that the people were already enough, they sighed. After all, this trip has to be done for three days, and forty-five dollars is enough to buy a few catties of white noodles for the New Year.

It's just that they are all old coolies who make a living, and when they carry those bags of hemp, some people realize that something is wrong. These bags of food are usually dead and heavy, but today they are a little heavier than that, and if they are weak, they can't help but tremble under their feet when they walk on the ground. After only carrying a few bags of grain, some people couldn't stand it, and immediately found the theory of stewardship, but they were looked at by the other party contemptuously, and sent back with a fluttering word.

"This is the salary of the contract, since it is hard work, and it is more weighty?"

After eating these words, no one dared to speak, but continued to do things silently, and a hundred carts were loaded in a moment. The people here were busy setting mules, and a few familiar coolies had to whisper in their spare time. This cao boat can be entrained, and the sea ship can also be entrained, so where is this not the case for transporting grain to Beijing by land? These many grain bags are bulging, and they must be all kinds of objects from the south, which are hoarded on weekdays and sent to the capital before the Chinese New Year, just to sell them at a good price.

"These people, who deduct our money but know how to earn others, be careful of being caught by the sky!"

The granary was most afraid of fire, so they only dared to whisper these words, and never dared to show a single star in front of those stewards and miscellaneous servants. It was easy to finish the morning's work, and although the group of people were hungry, they had to wait until dusk to get their wages, so they could only drag their heavy steps away, intending to patronize the business of a steamed bun shop in the west.

In front of the steamed bun shop, the three brothers and sisters who had whispered just now each asked for three steamed buns, and then found a sheltered place and squatted there to eat it. Sure enough, as before, with only one bite, the thin white skin revealed blue and white, which looked particularly cold under the winter sun when there was not much heating.

Although everyone knows that the white flour steamed buns over there are just good-looking, and the thin white dough is full of filled cabbage gangs, who makes it cheap? If this is a solid white-flour steamed bun, it can't be beaten for two cents, let alone three for two cents.

"Damn, this black-hearted stinky old chai is almost the New Year, so he can't put more white noodles in it?"

"Don't complain, even if it's a vegetable gang, it's better than filling the meat bun with dead rat meat...... Having said that, the work in the morning was really tiring, how many things did they carry in it, and that bag of grain was definitely not more than one stone, at least two percent more! ”

The coolie who spoke stretched out two fingers and gestured, and the short one took a bite of the light and tasteless cabbage filling, and said vaguely: "I deliberately poked in with my fingers while people were not paying attention, and I didn't see anything else except rice......

As soon as the words fell, the other person opened his mouth and spit out a piece of grass root mixed in the cabbage gang on the ground, and then sneered: "Nothing else except rice?" That's because you're not looking for the right way! Lao Tzu is much bolder than you, taking advantage of the chaos when he was about to finish work, he cut open a bag and looked, guess what Lao Tzu found inside? Hey, it seems to be cotton armor! ”

Seeing that the two companions were first taken aback, and then their faces were as pale as earth, he shook his head self-deprecatingly, and then sighed and said, "Lao Tzu was so frightened at that time. Fortunately, there is no mother-in-law at home, and I have to mend the clothes of the boy girl, and I carry the sewing kit with me, so it took a few stitches to sew a few stitches, and the people in the car did not pay attention, so I passed the customs. It's not that I said, it's not that I haven't seen the entrainment on weekdays, but I can carry this kind of goods, what is this thought? ”

The timid one said, "How can this be done, what if something happens to us?" Why don't you go to the government to make a head? ”

Another big man slapped him on the head: "Coming out? Fart, the first pair of Tongjicang and the Dingbian guards are wearing a pair of pants, can you guarantee that they won't find an excuse to beat us to death? Just pretend you don't know anything. ”

"Pretend not to know? You're kidding, there's something going on here, when is it not the top of the people below? The yamen must not be suered, and those officials are sheltering each other. The border guards are in charge of escorts, and they may not be well-intentioned, and they may be beaten to death with sticks when they come to the door. Hmph, I don't care about this, I turned around and sent the boy girl far away, and went to Beijing to find a big yamen and pierced this layer of window paper. Wealth also needs to be in danger, if it is really right, Lao Tzu and the little girl will not have to work so hard for the rest of their lives. If you're wrong, you'll have to give up your life! ”

Seeing the fanatical glint in their companion's eyes, the other two coolies hurriedly lowered their heads to nibble on steamed buns, but their hearts were beating. There may be some reward for informing, but who knows if you will lose a single life? After thinking about it again and again, one of them said cautiously: "Fifth brother, are you really determined?" This is not a joke, in case it gets a ......."

"What are you afraid of, as long as you two don't show your mouth! In this way, if you fight with me in the afternoon, turn around and scold me, even if it is a collapse, you will not be able to find your head if something happens. Poor to death, starving to death, beating to death is one death, what is there to be afraid of! Willing to cut all his body, dare to pull the emperor off the horse, we don't have that ability, but I don't believe that we can't pull those dogs if we give up this life! ”

Knowing that the man nicknamed Lao Wu was originally hob meat, the other two looked at each other and stopped making a sound. After eating the three steamed buns, when they went to work again in the afternoon, they had such a thing in their hearts, and it was inevitable that they were a little slack in their work, and then they fought again, and the three of them were blue noses and swollen faces, so they attracted a lot of scolding and scolding, and they were almost whipped. In the evening, when the two men unloaded the last bag of grain and looked around, they sighed in unison. is not only for the fifth child who was kicked out, but also for himself.

has been poor all his life, and it is easy to have such a chance to turn over, and it is no wonder that the fifth child will have a heart. However, if they want to replace them, will they dare to do it? The two glanced at each other, their eyes flickered for a while, and neither of them spoke.

The fifth child was a whim, and after being kicked out of Tongji Cang, he hurried home, instructed a pair of children who were still in Zongjiao, stuffed the last bit of valuable softness in the family to the two children, sent them to the car back to the countryside, and set off with the last bit of money in his sleeve. His little money was not enough to hire a car to go to Beijing, and he didn't know how long this trip would be delayed, so he didn't dare to spend money indiscriminately, so he only spent a few pennies to take a diesel car and hurried to Beijing.

Who would have thought that when he could easily see the tall city wall in the dim sky, he could only watch the city gate close together in front of him because he was only one step away. On this big night, the owner of the car transporting firewood scolded and vented, but he didn't want to wait here, so he said he wanted to go back. Lao Wuyi heard that it would cost ten yuan to take him back, so he was ruthless and decided to wait in the doorway at the city gate for the night.

However, being ruthless is susceptible to suffering. It is said that the snow is a good year, but for the poor, it is natural to prefer summer to winter. At night in this wax moon, if there is no charcoal fire at night and the wind leaks on all sides, it is already so cold that the hands and feet are stiff, not to mention that the snow begins to fall in the sky after nightfall, and after an hour it turns into swan feathers. At first, he walked back and forth with his hands crossed, then he simply went to the snow to run to keep warm, and finally he couldn't stand the cold of the snowflakes falling on his head, and went back to the doorway and curled up in a ball.

From the first half of the night to the second half of the night, he could still feel the cold at first, but gradually he lost consciousness, and only felt that his hands and feet were no longer his own. If it weren't for the breath in his heart and the thought in his mind, he would have fallen into a complete coma several times. He didn't know how long it was, but he was dazed and heard a sound of a blink, and when he tried to open his eyes, he saw that the door was open. He struggled to get up, but his siblings did not obey him at all, and he could not move at all.

"Damn bad luck, I saw a dead man early in the morning!"

"Cough, don't complain, let the boss see that it's another good scolding, isn't it over if you send it to the western suburbs?"

"Send the people to the field, I have to run from our Chongwen Gate to Shuntian Mansion on a cold day, how can I have that kung fu! Dragged out and still in the haystack, why did Fei do that......"

There are fewer people waiting to enter the city at the city gate in the early days of the cold day, but it doesn't mean that there are none, someone has already found the frozen person in the door hole here, and they have avoided it early. At this moment, I saw two soldiers carrying people over, waiting for the people to enter the city, brushing and making way for a way. At this moment, the person who was being carried suddenly let out a faint moan, which immediately shocked a crowd of people. The two soldiers shook their hands, and they threw the person directly on the snow.

"You're not dead?" One of the soldiers stepped forward and kicked the man angrily, and scolded, "Get up on your own if you don't die, don't get in the way here!" ”

"Help...... I...... Tongjicang ......"

When the sergeant heard these vague words, he suddenly became even more impatient: "What kind of Tongji Cang, get out of here!" ”

At this moment, a few people passing by suddenly reined in their horses, and the leader looked at the half-frozen old five, and suddenly jumped off the horse without saying a word. Skillfully reaching out and putting it around his neck, he took a sheepskin bag from his coat and poured it into his mouth. When the two soldiers next to him were secretly wondering, the person who was still frozen on the ground suddenly coughed violently twice, and then moaned again.

"It's cold, take him for a ride."

Hearing this, two more people dismounted, one after the other, and put the stiff old five on the horse's back, and then turned over and got on the horse. Since someone was willing to meddle in their affairs, the two sergeants naturally had nothing to displeasure, but they just muttered a few words, and by the time the two of them returned to the city gate, the four or five people had already entered the city.

"There are still such kind people in the cold weather, how can this kind of poor man not freeze to death two or three times?"

"Ill-intentioned? People are taking the road guide issued by the Ministry of War, and judging by his style, he may be an official. ”

Not to mention how these sergeants guarding the city gate were amazed, after the group galloped into Chongwen Gate, Hu Qiluo, who was the leader, stopped, he had just come back from Tongzhou, and was thinking about whether to go back to his own land first, or go directly to the military department along the Dongjiang Rice Lane, when he heard a subordinate at the back shouting: "Head, this guy is frozen and confused, and he has been talking about Tongji Cang." ”

Hu Qi saved people because he thought about the hard days in the past and felt compassion, but it was also because what this guy was talking about was the same as the direction he went to Tongzhou to investigate. At this time, when he heard that this person was still talking about Tongjicang in a coma, he immediately moved in his heart.

Hu Qi's tolerance this time was not the arrangement of the top, but in order to make up for his previous negligence, he hurriedly left Beijing after a little clue, although he had gained something, but the evidence was not enough, so he was ready to think about it and then report to Zhang Yue. At this time, Tsai carefully read Tongjicang several times, and he suddenly turned the horse's head over, looked at the man again, and then made a decision.

"Go to someone to ask for a doctor, let's go back to Yangzhou Hutong."

When he returned to the ground, the doctor had not yet been invited, but the fifth child, who had a fever, was talking nonsense. Although those words were clueless, Hu Qi, who came from Zhangjiawan Wharf early in the morning, already understood seven or eight points, and his already solemn face was even tighter.

"You stay and watch the people, and if the doctor comes, tell him that no matter what, he must save his life!"

Could it be that someone is really willing to cut his whole body and dare to pull the emperor off the horse?