Everything is in place, and there is no reason for Luoyang to stay. Zheng Rong divided the 500 people brought from Youyan into three teams—200 people from the front team to open the way, 200 people from the squadron to escort them, and 100 people from the rear team to the rear—and then they left the east gate of Luoyang again, and finally ended the two-day trip to the capital.

From Youyan to Beijing, you can rely on the benefits of the Yellow River water transportation to go downstream, and from the Central Plains to return to Youyan can only rely on your legs. More than 100,000 taels of silver, the net weight is more than 10,000 catties, and each of the household silver carts carries 300 catties, and it is also full of more than 30 cars. If it is according to the practice of the household department to deposit silver, set off during the day, rest at night, and check between loading and unloading, in order to ensure that the court post station can stay in relative safety at night, it is better to walk less than to walk more every day, so that down, a day at most fifty miles of travel.

And Zheng Rong's team, how can it be compared to those ordinary servants in the imperial court?

Before Zheng Rong came to Beijing, there was a secret report that the Turkic tent was not far north of Guangyang, so Zheng Rong lit up two thousand elites and searched for it in the direction of the secret report. Zheng Rong felt strange, and immediately ordered the class teacher, and rushed all the way back to Guangyang City without stopping, traveling 1,200 miles in two days and one night, without losing a single soldier. It is a team composed of such elite soldiers, who are not afraid of robbers and robbers, and can go out day and night to avoid the scorching heat; Second, there is no ambition to be distracted, and there is no example of committing adultery; 3. Tired and sleepy, if there is an order, it will be done, and if there is a prohibition, it will be stopped. Therefore, you can walk at least 200 miles a day, and after walking for three or four days, it is already in Nanyang County, Dengzhou, Henan Province.

The drought in Henan is really very serious, and Dengzhou, Henan Province is known as a rich and fertile land, and at a glance it should be a fertile land with blue waves, but now only the sparse weeds droop their heads, and they are sickly inserted in the cracks of the soil. A gust of wind swept by, and a cloud of dust rose up on the ground, making people cough uncontrollably.

Zheng Rong couldn't help shaking his head, holding the right hand of the horsewhip to build a pergola on his forehead, looking at it, in the wind and sand and scorching sun, he saw a small village in the distance, so he pointed with the horsewhip and ordered: "Enter the village and have a look." Immediately, people moved, horses neighed, and turns, and the procession, which was neither long nor short, marched forward along the straight official road in an orderly manner.

As the saying goes: Looking at the mountain and running a dead horse. The village that Zheng Rong pointed to casually let the team walk for two hours. Looking around the village, he didn't see the slightest anger, let alone a person, and even the roosters and dogs barked couldn't be heard. Zhong Likuang, who was not good at riding horses and was sitting in the car, felt weird, so he beckoned the guards around him: "Take four or five people and go to the village to have a look." ”

Zheng Rong listened, raised his hand, and said, "Wait, King Rong Ben will go and see it in person." With that, he turned over and dismounted, and walked slowly towards the village under the escort of eight or nine capable attendants. When Zhongli Kuang saw it, he hurriedly put on his shoes, tried to catch up with two steps, and followed behind Zheng Rong.

When I entered the village, I found that the village was even more depressed than what I saw from the outside. The adobe walls of loess were cracked by lack of repair and seemed to be about to collapse at any moment; The window paper has not been replaced for a long time, and only pieces of paper remain under the devastation of the wind and sand, hanging on the window lintel; The tiles are also mutilated, and even the weak rays of the setting sun can easily penetrate the roof, but there is no need to worry about rain and water leakage after a long drought.

Zheng Rong saw this dilapidated scene, compared with the prosperity of the capital Luoyang, it was hard to believe that the two places were in the same sky with the Han Dynasty. Zheng Rong sighed secretly, and was about to order his subordinates to find a villager to come over, but he didn't know that a person flashed out of that alley, blocked in front of everyone, and asked, "Who are you?" ”

Zheng Rong saw that the man was about twenty years old, with a short figure, a dark complexion, and although his face was a little thin and swollen, there was a heroic spirit in his eyes. "It's a man", Zheng Rong meditated in his heart, and asked rhetorically: "Where is this?" Who are you? ”

The short black man didn't have any city government, so he forgot that he asked first, and replied according to Zheng Rong's words: "This place is called Zhao Jiadai, and nine times out of ten people in the village are surnamed Zhao, and the one who is called Zhao Heizi is me." ”

"Haha, that little black brother blocked the way I was waiting, I don't know what to do?" Zheng Rong heard this simple name, and the joy in his heart was a little more.

"Don't do anything, just tell you, even if you arrest someone, the land will not be sold!"

Zheng Rong was puzzled, so he said: "I'm afraid that the little brother Hei has recognized the wrong person, I'm not here to buy land." ”

Zhao Heizi grinned and said, "You can't fool me, look at you all neatly dressed, tall and tall, at first glance, it is the rescuer invited by Zhao Juren." But please go back and tell the surnamed Zhao that he also owns six or seven tenths of the land in the village, and he should be content. The people in the village kept these few acres of thin fields to save their lives, even if they starved to death, they didn't sell a penny! ”

Zheng Rong is an extremely smart person, Zhao Heizi guessed a rough idea in a few words, and said: "Don't hide it from the little brother, we are the ......" Zhongli Kuang flashed in front of Zheng Rong and said first: "We are the officers and soldiers who came from the capital to go to Youyan Road to change their defenses, and today we are just passing through the treasure land." Zheng Rong's eyes rolled, and he understood Zhong Likuang's intentions, so he said: "Yes, it was you who went to Youyan to pay the military salary." Listen to the little brother, but there are local gentry who oppress the good and forcibly annex the land by taking advantage of the drought? We are all soldiers from poor backgrounds, and we are about to help you out! ”

When Zhao Heizi heard this, he gasped in surprise, and then his face was disappointed, and he said: "You foreign monks, how can you recite local scriptures!" What is the origin of Zhao Juren, and what is the use of a few of you who are hard soldiers? ”

Zheng Rong shook his head with a smile and said, "Little brother is reasonable, but we still believe that there is still a word for axiom in the world." I don't know if there are old people in the village, can you talk to me? ”

Zhao Heizi heard it as if a long drought was happening in a rainy day, and hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, please come with me." With that, he almost trotted to take Zheng Rong and his party to a hut in the depths of the village.

Zheng Rong led eight or nine people into the house. At this time, the sun had set, and the house was pitch black, Zheng Rong's eyes widened, and he could only vaguely see a thin figure swaying around the house. Zhao Heizi shouted at the top of his voice: "Old man, here is a distinguished guest!" "Almost knocked this humble house down.

"Little rabbit, the sun has set, what are you shouting?" An old voice came from the figure. With a little bean-sized flame lit, an old face carved with deep and shallow, long and short wrinkles was revealed. The old man said: "The little old man has only lived for two more years, knows a few words, and usually speaks a little bit of reason, so thanks to the trust of the old and young in the village, he calls me 'old man'." I don't know where these distinguished guests came from? ”

Zhao Heizi rushed in front of Zheng Rong and told him everything before.

Unexpectedly, Old Man Zhao sighed and said in an old voice: "The kindness of these soldiers, the little old man has received it for the people of the whole village, but I still have to persuade you not to wade into this muddy water." ”

"What do you mean, old man?" According to Zhong Li Kuang, someone helped out, and it was too late for the village elders to be happy, so how could he refuse the kindness, so he asked coldly.

"Alas......" The old man's sigh trembled, looking extremely desolate, which made people feel excited, "You officials don't know, that Zhao Juren is the leader of the gentry of ten miles and eight towns, and his brother is the history of Henan Thorn, the land in our village has been bought by him, how many lawsuits have been fought in the village, and what is the use?" ”

Zhong Li Kuang was stunned for a moment, and whispered to Zheng Rong: "Tsk, I didn't expect it to be the younger brother of Zhao Fude, the assassin of Henan, that Zhao Fude's family has been officials for many generations, and the government and the opposition are deeply rooted, I'm afraid I can't move lightly." The prince's control of Henan affairs this time is just right to take advantage of this Zhao Juren, but he must not be hasty and reckless, but also think long-term and act carefully. ”

Zheng Rong nodded, and said to the old man: "Old man, please rest assured, I have made a trip to this muddy water, but not today." Zheng Rong paused, and then asked, "Is there a place for accommodation in Guibao Land?" ”

The old man only wanted to be the young and vigorous officer in front of him, and after listening to Zhao Juren's name, he didn't want to admit it, so he just wanted to stay for one night today and leave tomorrow, so he pointed out: "This is a poor and remote place, there is no post inn, but there is a broken temple two miles north of the village." Our Zhao family is poor, but there are no thieves, and it is still possible to get together and stay overnight. ”

The ruined temple is a relic of the previous dynasty, after hundreds of years of wind and rain, now only one main hall remains. However, looking at the shape of the main hall, when it was prosperous, I am afraid it was also a large temple with flourishing incense. Zheng Rong's five hundred soldiers lined up the silver carts loaded with more than 100,000 taels of silver on the square outside the palace gate, leaving four hundred soldiers to sleep around the thirty silver carts. Zheng Rong took a hundred guards into the main hall for the night.

The main hall is really huge, there are three empty pedestals on the altar in front, and I don't know whether it was the Taoist Sanqing of the Yuan Shi Tianzun, Lingbao Tianzun and Daode Tianzun, or the three Buddhas of Shakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha and Medicine Buddha. The floor of the main hall was originally paved with a large block of bluestone, but it seems that most of it has been removed for other works, and now except for a corner of the main hall, everything else is loess. There were six huge pillars standing on the ground that had survived hundreds of years of spring and autumn, and the huge pillars that had to be hugged by two people dutifully supported the broad dome, but the dome had collapsed in half. The whole hall was dilapidated, and there was a mess of firewood and grass garbage around it, giving off a smell of decay.

Zheng Rong looked up and down the hall by the moonlight, and then asked Zhong Li Kuangdao beside him: "I don't want an ordinary village to have such a magnificent temple, I don't know where it came from?" ”

Zhongli Kuang twisted his beard and replied: "The emperors of the previous dynasties all believed in Buddhism, and every state and county built temples on a large scale, treating monks as guests and treating the people as grass mustard. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Emperor Taizu Gao of our dynasty greatly suppressed Buddhism, and Emperor Wu for the conquest of Beidi, forcibly expropriated temple property, dismissed monks, Buddhism has been in a slump since then, and the history is called Shengwu to destroy Buddha. Presumably, this temple was spared because of its remote location, otherwise it would have been razed to the ground or diverted for other purposes. ”

When Zheng Rong heard this, he couldn't stop nodding his head and praised: "Mr. is really knowledgeable, and things that have not been seen in history books can still be speculated from common sense, this courage is really admired by this king." ”

The two were talking, but they heard a commotion in the corner of the main hall, and a guard came to report: "There are assassins!" Zheng Rong lowered his head and thought about it, he had just come to Henan for less than half a day, his whereabouts had not yet been exposed, and the warriors around him were like clouds, even if there were really assassins, he would never make a move at this moment, it must be a false alarm, so he ordered: "Don't panic, King Rong Ben will check it himself." ”