It was already late autumn, and there were not many boats willing to go long distances, and I couldn't find a suitable boat for several days. On this day, Li Mao went to try his luck again, there happened to be a cargo ship from Huazhou unloaded but failed to get the return business, the owner was in a hurry, heard that Li Mao was looking for a ship, so he took the initiative to come over to talk. Li Mao saw that although the ship was dilapidated and the cabin was dirty, fortunately the place was still open, he asked the owner to clean the ship and give the price at half of the price of the passenger ship, and the owner agreed to come down.

Looking for the boat company to make a fixed payment, about to go back to the hotel, the head of the boat company stopped him, smiled and persuaded: "Look at my brother is a sincere person, there are two words that do not vomit unpleasantly, hire such a big boat, the luggage population is a lot, listen to my advice, go to the town to find a person named Wang Zhiya to be accommodating, lest the luggage be taxed by the bridgehead tax collector as goods, then it will not be rowed." ”

Li Mao said with a smile: "My brother has a court to sue him, and he is a court official who went to Caozhou to take office, is there still a tax on the luggage carried by the official?" Guan Tou said with a smile: "Since ancient times, the civil and military classes are different, and the officials of Caozhou can't control the generals of Heyang, if you want to worry about it, you can do it, and it's up to you whether you listen or not." Seeing Li Mao's hesitation, the head of the pipe said with a smile: "You can report my name when you go, it will be more convenient for you." ”

Li Mao returned and talked to Xue Rong about this matter, and Xue Rong said: "That's it, let him pay taxes, how much money can he spend?" The reason why I didn't go to the post station was because I was impatient with the arrival of officialdom. Having said that, Li Mao thought: "It's nothing more than a reminder in the past, and it's not necessarily a bad thing to make more friends when you go out." After making up his mind, he asked the shopkeeper to buy two gifts, and as soon as it was dark, he took the little boy Qingmo to find the Wang Zhiya.

Mokedu is a military town, except for the garrison, there are not many residents, the city is very small, only a long street in the east and west, and the people in the city are mostly military families. After dark, a curfew was imposed in the city, but the garrison thought that the defense of thieves in the soldiers' dens was a redundant move, and the implementation was a mere formality. Even though it was nightfall, there were still a lot of people wandering the streets.

The house of the man named Wang Jian lived by a pond in the north of the city, there were three poplar trees in front of the door, there were willows on the edge of the pond, the leaves of the willow trees had already fallen, only one willow silk was left hanging on the water surface, and there was a stone mill near the water under the tree, the surface was ground unusually smooth, and a beating stick was placed horizontally.

This is an extremely ordinary Zhuang house, the main house of the three wings is paved with a tiled roof, the side houses on both sides are grass roofs, the courtyard wall is made of earth, about five feet high, the wall is crawling with withered vines, the firewood door is dilapidated, and a hole has been drilled by a dog in the lower right corner. Li Mao looked at the surrounding terrain and judged that this was the home of the king, turned around and greeted Qingmo, walked to the door, and was about to knock on the door, when a local dog suddenly came out of the dog hole, startling Qingmo a lot, and the dog was also startled, and turned around and drilled back from the dog hole with his tail "whoosh", and immediately stood in the yard and barked wildly.

I heard a rough voice laughing and scolding: "Soft egg, it's good to point at you and watch the door, people don't run away before you arrive." As he spoke, the door opened, and a burly, unusually majestic figure appeared in front of Li Mao, this person was about thirty years old, with a beard, a high nose and deep eyes, broad shoulders and a thick back, draped in a linen cotton robe, and a palm-wide cowhide belt tied around his waist.

Li Mao thought that he was the king of the ya, and bowed his hand and said, "Dare to ask, but is it the king of the ya?" ”

The man looked at Li Mao, raised his hand and replied, "It's my old king, what do you call your feet?" Li Mao reported his name and identity, and Na Han said, "Please come to the house." Let Li Mao and Qingmo enter, and shouted towards the inner hall: "There are guests coming, serve tea." Someone in the hall answered, and out came a woman in a linen dress, about twenty years old, white and delicate, and thin and petite.

After seeing Li Mao, he lowered his head and went to prepare tea under the stove, Wang Jian led Li Maotang to sit down, asked the reason, but said with a smile: "Hugh listened to that old man's nonsense, Brother Zun is an official of the imperial court, and he is carrying luggage, how dare he pay taxes?" He deceived you as a foreigner and coaxed you to pay for us to honor us, so that we would fall for his personal favors. After saying that, he sighed sullenly, and said: "This group of people often colludes with salt lords to carry private salt, and they are afraid that we will ban it, so they will spend money to plug our mouths. ”

The man sighed heavily: "Alas, I think I used to fight in Fengxiang with the Tubo people, and how happy I was to rush and kill in the rain of guns and arrows!" Kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions, Shang Shu lifted, let me go of this errand, they all said that it was good, fortunately, it was easy to take advantage of the money, but I Wang Jian is the one who waits to see the money, hold your breath, really fucking hold your breath! ”

Wang Jian said while holding his breath while pounding the table, this is a Hu table, which is somewhat similar to the Eight Immortals Table in later generations, and I don't know what kind of wood it is made of, after eating Wang Jian's two punches, there was a strange squeak, as if it was about to disintegrate. Three words and a few words and this fist made Li Mao have a good impression of this rough man, he said: "As an official in the local area, you must be familiar with people's feelings, and you can mix for a long time. When Wang Jian heard this, if he met a bosom friend, he immediately laughed and said: "That's right, I have long said that I am a piece of food for the army, and I will be suffocated sooner or later if I nest in this bird place." ”

Before the words fell, someone at the door suddenly asked, "Where are you going to go with this shout?" "The voice is like a milk warbler's cry, very pleasant to the ear. But it was Wang Jian's wife Wu Shi who walked in with two bowls of tea, and Qingmo hurriedly went to pick it up. Wang Jian suddenly felt short of breath when he saw Wushi, got up and replied flatteringly while taking tea: "Don't go anywhere, laugh with Brother Li, I swore that I will stay in this bird place for the rest of my life to accompany you." He laughed, served tea and drank himself, and only after drinking half of it did he remember to greet Li Mao.

Wu Shi was very dissatisfied with Li Mao's return to the army with her husband, and did not leave after sending tea, but sat beside Wang Jian with a wicker dustpan and made needlework with an oil lamp. Li Mao took a sip of tea, put down the tea bowl, got up and said: "Brother is ignorant, deceived by the villain, today I am reminded by my brother to be grateful, and it is inconvenient to disturb it late at night, so I will leave." Wang Jian got up to see him off, asked about the inn where Li Mao was staying, and said, "I'll send a brother to take you through tomorrow morning, and it will be smooth." ”

asked Li Mao to bring the gift back, Li Mao smiled and said: "Two burlap horses, what is it worth, sister-in-law keep it and give it away." "I took my leave. The yellow dog stopped at the gate of the courtyard and grinned at Qingmo, who was frightened and hid behind Li Mao. Wu Shi chuckled and called Huang'er, and the earth dog pricked up his ears and snorted and obediently got out of the way. Wu Shi lit another lantern for Qingmo and instructed: "If you meet someone who patrols the night on the road, mention the name of my old king, no one dares to embarrass you." Qingmo sighed, took Li Mao as a meat shield and slipped out of the door sideways, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief when he didn't see the dog coming.

Seeing that there was no one around, the little guy shook his head and sighed: "I thought I was a hero, but it turned out to be ...... Hmph, it's a bear with a fear of guilt. Li Mao ignored him. Qingmo squeezed his eyes, chased after him for two steps, parallel to Li Mao, and whispered: "See, Wang Zhiya is stronger than you, and his waist is thicker than a black dog and bear." Li Mao struggled high, still ignoring him.

The little guy said again: "The waist of the little lady is really thin, the skeleton is so delicate, and the thighs are probably not as thick as the arms of the black bears. ”

No, Li Mao kicked the little guy's buttocks, and scolded with a smile: "The little fart who hasn't grown his egg hair yet, he has a lot of things to do, what do you have to do with it?" The little guy rubbed his buttocks, laughed dryly, chased after him reluctantly, and asked, "Alas, what did this man and woman do,...... Isn't it very useful? Li Mao stood up, clasped his hands in front of his chest, and asked the little guy: "What do you want to say, don't swallow and spit out, finish in one breath." The little guy laughed embarrassedly, looked at no one around, and whispered to Li Mao: "During this time, the eldest man and the lady did that thing as soon as the third watch passed, and the floor was thin, squeaky, and I listened to everything so much that I couldn't sleep all night." ”

Li Mao slapped the little guy with his forked hand, and scolded with a smile: "Go to the firewood room to sleep to ensure stability." He also said: "People call love, not fear of the inside, and the fear of the inside may not be a hero." Take care of your spirits tonight, and follow me to the boat early tomorrow morning to deliver my luggage. When he arrived outside the inn, Li Mao told the little guy in a serious tone: "Hugh has to inquire about the privacy of other people's families, and don't leak it if you know. Is it worth it? The little guy touched his head and sneered: "It's okay, that is, with you, how can I say it to others, I'm not stupid." ”