Chapter 2 (Part I)

Two days later, the two arrived in Liaodong County. I first found a big local household, gave half a penny, and put the horses down. Then I asked the host to borrow a room and a basin, and brought cold water to tidy up my clothes.

At present, the war is imminent, and Liaodong County is passing troops day by day. Ordinary soldiers caught the people and herded horses, and it would be good if they didn't take the opportunity to blackmail, so they were willing to give half a benefit. The master of the house touched five hundred pieces of meat, and he didn't accept it, and he didn't dare to accept it. Standing at the door until the two of them had cleaned up, they tiptoed forward and prayed in a low voice: "Two generals, please take back the reward, Xiao Lao'er was born in Dasui and contributed to the country, originally, it should have been." This money is tens of thousands, and I dare not accept it. ”

"Take it, and the two of us are going to the city on business. These hundred horses are all taken care of by your family, and they are taken care of, and there is money to give. If someone steals the horse...... "Liu Hongji dusted off the leather on his head, and said with a straight face. (Note 1)

"Little old man doesn't dare, little old man doesn't dare!" The owners shouted assurances.

Liu Hongji was already rich and noble, but at this moment, he changed into a brocade coat and a leather crown, which made him even more extraordinary. How could this kind of official children dare to offend ordinary people, for a while, the head of the household was so frightened that he didn't dare to say that he didn't dare, and half of the string of money trembled like a rosary.

"Uncle, you can collect the money. We're not bad people, and we won't deliberately trouble you! Li Xu saw that the master's family was really pitiful, so he stepped forward to make a big bow with the gift of the younger generation, and comforted him in a low voice. (Note 2)

"Kill the little old man, kill the little old man!" When the head of the household saw a young man in a brocade robe and a crown making such a big gift to himself, he trembled more and more, put down half a string of copper coins, put his hands together and raised his eyebrows, and bent his knees to bow back. Liu Hongji was really impatient, rushed forward and grabbed his arm, and shouted: "If you want to accept it, you will accept it, it will only take half a day, can the two of us still lie to you!" ”

"Little old man doesn't dare, little old man doesn't dare!" The head of the household replied in a trembling voice, but the ceremony still could not be returned. Liu Hongji refused to delay any longer, pulled Li Xu out, picked out two Turkic military horses that looked the same color and looked more majestic from the herd, and rode all the way to Huaiyuan Town.

That Huaiyuan Town is a place to store grain, and the security is naturally a few points stricter than that of Liucheng and other places. Dozens of soldiers stood at the door, armed with knives and guns, inspecting passers-by one by one. From the face, body to the calluses on the hands, there is not a single suspicious place.

Li Xu has been practicing martial arts with the coppersmith master for more than half a year, and the cocoons on his hands are all sharpened by holding weapons. was worried about how to pass, but Liu Hongji lifted the reins of the horse and rushed towards the city gate at a faster speed.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way, Uncle has urgent business!" Liu Hongji took the lead and shouted domineeringly. The people who were waiting by the door to inspect heard the sound of horses' hooves and quickly turned sideways and flashed to the side. The soldier guarding the door wanted to stop him, look at the tall horse, and then look at the brocade robe on the horse's back, but his heart immediately became timid, and he raised his sword and gun and stood solemnly in the doorway.

The figures of the two flashed by the door, and they ran out for more than half a mile before the city gate official came back to his senses. wiped the dust on his head with his sleeve, and smacked heavily on the ground: "What's it, isn't it just a good old man." If grandpa I was born with a golden spoon in my mouth, hum, all stand up, say you, come one by one, squeeze what, grandma's, busy buying a coffin! ”

Huaiyuan Town is a small town, and the streets are not complicated. Liu Hongji casually asked someone, and then asked where the yamen of the chief official of this place was. But he didn't enter the yamen, took Li Xu straight to the corner gate in the north of the courtyard, got off the horse ten steps away from the corner gate, and walked slowly with the reins.

Before they reached the door, a servant came up to meet them. Liu Hongji took out a jade plaque from his bag, handed it to the servant, and said loudly: "This place is the Tang Apartment, and the annoying little brother said that the son of the old man, the eldest man of the Liu family, came to visit the elders!" ”

"It's the back house of Duke Tang's family, if you don't wait, I'll pass the word for you!" When the servant heard that he was the son of the deceased, he quickly took the jade plaque and threw it to the ground.

Liu Hongji stretched out his hand to hug each other, and when the other party got up, he stuffed a small half string of copper coins into his sleeve. The servant was accustomed to welcoming guests on weekdays, and he knew from the sudden increase in the weight of his sleeve that the boy in front of him had given a lot of money, so he thanked him and ran in in a hurry.

A moment later, footsteps sounded again in the courtyard. As soon as the door moved, it was the servant who came out, who saluted first, and then took out a square towel to wipe his sweat, and said breathlessly: "I, my lord went to the barracks on business, and he has not returned at the moment." The eldest prince, please, invite the two distinguished guests to the front door, he is there to greet the old friend! ”

Liu Hongji thanked him, threw the reins of the horse to the servant, and pulled him away from Li Xu to walk towards the front door. The servant looked at each other until the two men had gone far away, and then led the two horses into the courtyard one by one.

The Great Sui Dynasty inherited the Han system, and the official yamen all sat in the north and faced south. If the position is high enough to bring family members to the office, the officials' wives and children are usually placed in the back house of the yamen. Ordinary official exchanges, guests go through the front door, only close friends or their juniors enter through the back door. Hundreds of years later, the wind of greed prevailed, and the term "going through the back door" also came from this, which is a later story, let's not mention it for the time being.

And the guests who alarmed the host's family to greet them at the front door were the VIPs of the family. Therefore, although Liu Hongji asked to see him as a junior, he was arranged by the master to meet him at the front door.

Li Xu has no experience in officialdom and doesn't know these rules at all. was pulled by Liu Hongji and slowly walked to the front office. The main entrance of the front office is also wide open, but it is a place to deal with state affairs, not a place for the host's family to welcome guests. The two of them passed by the main entrance, took a few more steps forward, and stopped at the side door in front of them.

The front side door for VIPs had long since been opened by the servants, and several well-dressed male housekeepers held long brooms and symbolically "swept" a path in front of the door. The host greeted him with a smile, walked to Liu Hongji and stood still, with his hands attached to his heart, his chest hugged, bowed down and said: "I have seen Brother Hongji, but I don't know that the eldest brother is far away, and I can't come out to greet him, don't blame the eldest brother!" ”

Over there, Liu Hongji had already bowed down, and said excitedly: "Come here without telling me, how presumptuous, don't laugh at me for being abrupt!" ”

The two of them shook each other, and they shook each other's hands, and said with a laugh: "You and my brother haven't seen each other for more than three years, but I didn't expect to meet here today!" ”

After laughing enough, Liu Hongji pulled Li Xu forward and introduced the two, "This is my other good brother, Shanggu Li Xu, whose name is Zhongjian." This is my good friend since childhood, the eldest son of Tang Gong, built, the word is solid! (Note 4)

When Li Xu heard this, he hurriedly took half a step forward, clasped his fists to his chest, and bowed. Jiancheng has an official position, so he shook his hands and returned the salute with the scholars seeing the people.

After greeting each other, Liu and Li entered the door at the invitation of the host. As he walked, he asked as soon as he built: "Brother Zhong Jian came out of the Li family in the upper valley, I don't know if it has anything to do with General Gu Zhifei!" ”

"Li is not talented, and he is ashamed of his ancestors!" Li Xu bowed his hand again and replied with a straight face.

The Li family in Shanggu has always called themselves the relics of the flying general Li Guang. Although Li Xu was born in the last branch, this bloodline inheritance can be regarded as genuine, so he replied with confidence, and the respectful feeling on his face when he mentioned his ancestors was not half pretentious. Hearing this, the eldest son of Duke Tang was overjoyed, took Li Xu's hand and laughed: "In this way, we are the same clan, and the ancestor King Wuzhao is also the queen of General Fei." ”

"I haven't seen Brother Shi yet!" Liu Hongji smiled and pushed Li Xu's shoulder and said.

"Zhong Jian, please meet Brother Shi!" Li Xu blushed and gave a salute. The highest official he had ever seen since he was a child was a foot lieutenant, so since he heard the word Tang Gong in Liu Hongji's mouth, he added twelve points of caution. lest I answer the wrong word and hear the wrong word without paying attention. Now that Liu Hongji said that the two were brothers, he could no longer bow to each other as a stranger when they met for the first time as he did just now, stood up straight, and made a respectful bow. Although it is just a fist, a heart, and a bow, three movements, but I am also so tired that I sweat on my forehead.

"I've seen Brother Zhongjian!" Li Jiancheng smiled and returned the favor.

Taking advantage of people's inattention, Li Xu secretly wiped his forehead, regretting that he accompanied Liu Hongji to suffer this crime. He had heard the name of Li Wei, the king of Liangwu Zhao, and in order to elevate his own identity, the Li family in Shanggu deliberately cultivated this eight-pole family into the family tree. According to the generation, Li Xu can be regarded as the ninth grandson of this person, the twenty-fifth descendant of the Han general Li Guang. Li Jiancheng also said that after Li Guang, if the two are a few generations apart, can he still come forward and call his grandfather?

was thinking wildly, and heard Li Jiancheng say: "My father went to the barracks to handle official business, so he couldn't come to greet him." You two can go to the guest room to sit down, I have sent someone to inform you, and my father will rush back when he gets the letter! ”

"Can I go and see my aunt first?" Liu Hongji asked with a smile.

"Mother-sama is glad that Brother Hongji has arrived!" Li Jiancheng replied with a smile. The three of them took a few more steps forward, bypassed a corridor, and were led by a servant, placing Li Xu in the guest room to drink tea. Subsequently, Liu Hongji took Jiancheng to visit Tang Gong's wife, Dou.

When everyone's footsteps were far away, Li Xu took a breath. Along the way, it was level, and it was arched, and he was very tired of chewing words, and he didn't bother to see what the mansion of the Guogong family looked like. At this moment, I sat down in the guest room, only to find that the furnishings of the so-called noble house are also very simple, the whole room is just a table, two chairs, two high-waisted vases, and a set of four treasures of the study. It's not as luxurious as some of the big families I've seen, but the rooms are cleaner, and the windows are not covered with paper, but a few pieces of white silk like snow.

Under the south window, there is also a piano. It is antique, the string surface is dusty, and it is obviously wiped every day. Li Xu put down the tea bowl, strolled forward, and brushed his hand, the sound of the piano was like a mountain falling into water, and it was wrong.

Even though his piano skills are mediocre, he knows that this is a good piano. Looking carefully at the surface of the piano, I saw that the mottled pattern was full of antiquity, and the crack at the tail of the piano was slight, and there were some traces of burnt.

"Scorched Tail!" Li Xu was startled and hurriedly dodged away from the piano. This is a treasure worth tens of millions, which was made by Cai Yong in the Han Dynasty. Today's emperor is talented, and in order to get his appreciation, students from all over the world must be familiar with "Cai's Five Alleys". Thinking of the preparations he had made to gain fame back then, his heart suddenly and violently jumped. (Note 5)

In order to meet Tang Gong, Liu Hongji deliberately pulled him to buy a few sets of clothes when he passed by Lulong County. If Wu Heimin and the others saw Li Xu's current Confucian crown brocade robe, with the strange appearance of not using a long sword hanging from his waist, they would definitely laugh and fall. But this kind of gentle and elegant behavior was once Li Xu's dream. Before leaving Yixian's hometown, he looked forward countless times that he would grow up to be a well-mannered scholar.

Thinking of his ambition back then, the wanted notice he saw when he passed through Liucheng came to the bottom of his heart again. The so-called Li Fuli and Xu Dayan must be himself and Xu Dayan. Why did the government make such a stupid mistake, not only did they get the names wrong, but they also looked so different?

In any case, he is now a wanted criminal. Is Tang Gong really willing to take responsibility and help two people who don't know each other get rid of their crimes? Li Xu didn't dare to be sure, nor did he dare to ask for extravagance, his heart was "plopping" and "plopping", and his scalp was faintly wooden.

Note 1: Piben, a hat commonly used by warriors, is usually seated in deerskin. In the following, Li Xu's Ziguan is a commonly used hat for scholars, regardless of grade.

Note 2: Dayi, a kind of Han rite, is practiced by the younger generation to the elders. The elders are usually still even. In the article, the old man thought that his rank was lower than Li Xu, so he had to kneel at a higher level. The knees of the Han and Tang people do not often kneel, and when friends meet, they also use Pingyi. When strangers first see each other, they bow their hands. Only when worshipping the ancestral tablet, only three knocks.

Note 3: Huaiyuan Town, marked in the Sui and Tang Dynasty scrolls of the "Historical Map of China", is located in Yixian County, on the border of the Liaohe River, and some people think that it is too close to the border and doubt this statement.

Note 4: Li Jiancheng, 589-626, there is no historical record of his epigraph. Zigu is made up by the author.

Note 5: Cai's five alleys, namely "You Chun", "Lushui", "Secluded Residence", "Sitting Sorrow", and "Autumn Thoughts", are all famous songs through the ages, and were once listed by Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty as a compulsory test topic for the Jinshi examination.