Two years later.

In September of the eighth year of Zhenghe (A.D. 1118), the Dayjin Hall of Anyang County, Xiangzhou of the Great Song Dynasty.

"The fire flows in July, and the clothes are given in September. One is called hair, and the other is called Li Lie. If you have no clothes and no brown, why do you die?

The third is said to be in the clouds, and the fourth is said to be toes. With my wife and son, I am in the south of the mu, and the fields are happy! The second is said to be chiseled and rushed, and the third is said to be included in Lingyin. The four are called their fleas, and they offer lambs and leeks. Frost in September, cleansing field in October. Friends wine feast, said to kill the lamb. Standing in the court, he said: Long life is boundless! ”

Han Xiaoxuan stretched out his hand and pressed the guqin, the melodious sound of the piano stopped abruptly, and his wife on the side laughed softly: "What a long life!" Xiang Gong is peaceful in this "Feng Feng", which is not only matched with this 'Day Jintang', but also with this season and identity, which is really wonderful! ”

"Madame praised it falsely, I was just interested in it, but I didn't think about it so much!" Han Xiaoxuan smiled slightly, combing a few strands of long beard under his chin with a rhino horn comb in his hand, but his face showed a little smugness. It turned out that this Han Xiaoxuan was the great-grandson of Han Qi, the famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, who served as the prime minister of Renzong, Yingzong, and Shenzong, and supported the two emperors of Yingzong and Shenzong to ascend the throne, and had great prestige. According to the laws of the Northern Song Dynasty, in order to prevent officials from bending the law for personal gain, generally speaking, officials are not allowed to go to their places of origin to serve. But when Han Qi asked to return to his hometown due to illness in the second year of Zhihe (1068), Emperor Shenzong actually took Han Qi as the official and servant to judge Xiangzhou, and Han Qi built this pavilion in the city at that time, as a place to recuperate, and named it "Dayjin Hall", which means "wealth does not return to the hometown, such as clothes and brocade at night". Later, although no one in the Anyang Han clan could compare with the ancestor of the "three dynasties and two emperors", it was still a first-class family in the Great Song Dynasty, and there were also people who went to the pavilion to worship the prime minister, and there were countless eunuchs, Han Jiaxuan himself was only in his early thirties, and he was already hanging a goldfish on his waist, and he was in an important position, and the nobility of the Han family can be seen.

"It's the best to be excited, but I don't know if the prime minister is exhausted tonight, can you drum another song for the concubine?"

Han Xiaoxuan smiled slightly, gently pressed his right hand on the strings, and was looking down to think about which song to choose. At this time, there was a commotion in the front yard, Han Xiaoxuan frowned slightly, flicked his sleeves slightly, and sighed: "I'm out of interest tonight, let's get here!" ”

"These slaves!" Han's wife snorted coldly, she can marry the Han family in Anyang, and her own family is naturally a famous family, she has been used to urinating and directing since she was a child, and she was rushed at this time, where can she still endure it, and drank coldly: "Come on, go and see which cheap slaves are making noise, so that you can be punished!" ”

"That's it!" Han Xiaoxuan waved his hand, signaled the steward who stepped forward to receive the order to step down, and smiled at his wife: "The outside world is full of their own tenants, they work hard all year round, and they will live happily for a few days at this time, and they don't have to be punished, if you want to hear it, I will play it to you again!" “

"Xianggong is really generous!" Han's wife rolled her eyes, and her face was already full of smiles: "That's right, the prime minister will send an envoy to Liao in a few days, if he punishes them, it's not a good sign, let's let them go today!" ”

"Madame is really generous!"

Outside the day brocade hall is a large courtyard with a radius of more than 100 zhang, which is used to park visitors' carriages and sedan chairs in the ordinary area, and is in a busy agricultural season. At this time, it was already September, and the heat had not yet faded, and more than 100 men dressed in short brown were sitting around, watching the juggling with great interest, and from time to time erupted into thunderous cheers.

At this time, the performance was a five-foot-tall dwarf. I saw that he stood on the ground with a bamboo pole with the thickness of a bowl, climbed up three times and two times, and made all kinds of funny and ridiculous movements on the bamboo pole, and there was no support under the bamboo pole, but the dwarf only relied on his own sense of balance, and on the top of the bamboo pole as if walking on the ground, attracting the laughter and admiration of the onlookers below.

The dwarf played two jugglers on top of the bamboo pole, and was about to say some festive words to the crowd according to the customary practice of the past, so that he could ask for a reward. Suddenly, he saw that the street outside the courtyard was already full of men with torches, and he was afraid that there would not be a hundred or ten people. The man at the head gave an order, and his subordinates drew their swords and bows one by one, and the arrows were pointing at themselves in a high place.

"Ahh

With a scream, the dwarf fell from the bamboo pole, and the juggler master who was about to besiege everyone and begged for a reward couldn't help but curse: "It must have been because I secretly drank wine before going on the field, so I was so soft-handed." But he had to squeeze out a smile on his face, and made a group gesture like everyone: "Rank and watch, this guy just missed, so he will be punished to go up and play a few more rounds, okay to accompany you?" ”

"Class master! Come on! There are strongmen! There's a strongman out there! The dwarf hissed.

When the class master heard this, he was furious, kicked the dwarf away, and scolded, "Are you crazy? This is the Han family's Dayjin Hall, where will there be any strong people! ”

As he was talking, there was a sudden swishing sound in the air, and the class master's chest suddenly hurt, and when he looked down, it was a white feather arrow that pierced into his chest, and the white feather at the end of the arrow was still trembling slightly, and he muttered a few times in his mouth, and then fell on his back with a look of disbelief.

"Mom!"

There was a burst of exclamations in the crowd, and almost at the same time, a rain of arrows fell in the air, and some people in the crowd continued to fall from arrows, and some of the people who fled outside happened to hit the strongman who came in over the wall, and were immediately cut down head-on, and the screams were intertwined, and the place where the laughter was melting immediately became a Shura field. The dwarf looked around, and finally fell to the ground, clasped his hands together, and chanted the Buddha in his mouth.

I don't know how much time passed, the dwarf suddenly felt a tightness on his back, and he had been lifted up, and then he saw a bearded man, who was grinning at him, and he instinctively screamed: "Ahh ”

"Wu Na man, the Han family's Dayjin Hall is here?" The red-faced man threw the dwarf to the ground, and shook the steel knife in his hand into the wind, and the blood on the blade that had not yet condensed suddenly splashed the dwarf's face, so frightened that the dwarf screamed again, and he didn't know whether he was frightened or fell.

"Why don't you speak?" The leader of the bandits saw that the dwarf was like a sifting chaff, but he did not speak, and he couldn't help but be a little impatient, he waved his knife and slashed, and shouted: "Look at you, who is less than five feet tall, I would not have bothered to kill you, but if you don't reply, the master will not be able to speak, and let you be shorter than a foot, it is a matter of stretching your arms, what, say nothing!" ”

"Say, say, the villain will say it right away!" The dwarf was like a toy that had been put into strips, and he quickly fell down in front of the other party's feet, and replied while kowtowing again and again: "Just now, these people who watch the villain juggle are the Tian Ke tenants of the Han family, open the door in front of you and inside is the Han family's Dayjin Hall, beg the master to spare his life, spare his life!" ”

"I see, this time I didn't find the right thing!" The bandit leader sneered, and shouted to the subordinates who were searching for property on the corpses around: "Don't look for it, they are all poor tenants, and inside is the Han family's Dayjin Hall, and if you go in, the savings of the Han family in Anyang for several generations will be used to move!" Speaking of this, he turned his head to the dwarf and smiled: "I am Zhang Chao, have you ever heard of the name of a certain family?" You gather the people who are not dead, and you will be our masters later, and everyone will have to pay for a few drinks! If you dare to run, a certain family will cut your five-foot-tall man in two, do you understand? ”

Seeing that there were fierce bandits all around, the dwarf had no other ideas in his heart, so he had to nod his head again and again. That Zhang Chao laughed and shouted: "Everyone work hard, pour in for a fat year!" ”

There is already a mess in the daytime Jintang, most of the children of the Han family are officials outside, at this time the only one who can stay at home can be in charge of the affairs of Han Xiaoxuan, who happened to go home to save his relatives, although he has been an official for many years, but he is from a noble background, and he can rely on his ancestors, which can be said to be sitting on the minister, he has not been grinding between states and counties, and he has not much practical experience.

"Quick, go and send someone to the yamen to ask for help, go quickly!" The butler shouted.

"Master, master, the thieves have opened the outer door and started to loot the outer storeroom!" A servant rushed in in and shouted in despair.

"Don't take care of the outer storeroom! Block the gate of the inner courtyard, you must block it! The housekeeper shouted loudly, and turned back to Han Xiaoxuan and said, "Master, the outside world is just some grain, cloth and copper coins anyway, and the precious and soft are all in the inner mansion, just throw them to the thieves, as long as you and the ladies in the family are safe!" ”

"Good, good!" Han Xiaoxuan only had the strength to nod at this time, he held his wife's hand, staring at the fire in the distance, and the whole person trembled like sifting chaff.

Outside the inner wall, there was already a fire, several warehouses had been opened, revealing stacks of cloth and bags of grain inside, the bandits scolded the people who had just been captured to move the cloth and grain to the collected livestock and carts, and a bandit smiled flatteringly at Zhang Chao: "Or the eldest brother has the courage to dare to come to fight the idea of the Han family's day Jintang, so much grain and cloth, and a lot of copper coins, this time is better than ten times in Pingyueli." ”

Zhang Chao's face was full of disdain: "Hmph! It's all grain and cloth, and there is no hard goods, so where can I get grain just now? Take a trip to Anyang City, do you want to get some food and cloth back? A group of visionless things, all of them have dropped the things in your hands, opened the inner courtyard, and everyone is serious about making him hundreds of flowers! ”

When the bandits heard this, they were aroused by the leader's words, and they all rushed towards the gate of the inner courtyard. The servants of the Han family on the wall of the inner courtyard couldn't help but let out a miserable scream when they saw the bandits rushing towards him.

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