The red sun hangs high, and the sky is clear.

Hu Er turned his neck and threw a cloth towel back, revealing two thick shoulders outside.

Although it is only March, as soon as the sun comes out, the streets start to get hot, and flies and mosquitoes are flying around on the tables, and they can't get rid of them. He took a large sunflower fan, drove away the flies, and put the pork, pork liver, pig heart and other things in front of him into a good posture again, revealing their fat, full, and shiny side.

He stood for a while, and there were few pedestrians on the street, and when he turned his head to look at the mutton seller next to him, he had already moved a bench and was lying on his back, his right leg shaking his left leg, and his right hand was patting his belly, which was obviously very comfortable.

Looking at the table in front of his desk, there are only three or two sheep bones left, and the rest are half sold cleanly.

Hu Er was very surprised, screamed, and said: "Where is your meat, I didn't see you sell more than me in the morning, how can this is all left?" ”

The mutton seller chewed the grass in his mouth, slowly tasted the sweetness of the tender roots, and said slowly: "Who has the spare time to buy meat in the morning?" I only killed one sheep, and I gave half of it to Zhang Liu's family on the next street to sell - everyone went to Xinzheng and Yangzhou to see the excitement of the iron dragon grabbing mud, who has time to pay attention to you? ”

Today, the water supervisor wants to use the Junchuan River to open the canal, Hu Er naturally knows it, but where did he think that this matter has such a big impact, so much that he can't even sell pork!

"Losers, troubled men, one or two are idle!"

Hu Er scolded hatefully.

The sheep seller next door was at ease, and Erlang's legs were shaking so much that he was about to go to the sky, and he said slowly: "What is there to scold, you can't be angry, and you can go and see it yourself." ”

He added: "After a while, these two bones can't be sold, and I won't sell them anymore, just as a dish in the evening, and I'll also go to see a lively scene." ”

Sure enough, he lay down for a while, saw that no one was coming, greeted Hu Er, and left after cleaning up the stall.

Hu Er is left alone, look left and right, there are few pedestrians on the street, and the rest of the vendors are also scattered above, many of them only have a stall there, and the stall owner is gone.

He scolded his mother in his heart, the more he thought about it, the more unhappy he became, Bai Gangan waited for a while, and saw that there was still no guest coming, so he simply took a few large lotus leaves to cover a board pig, and took a cover to lock it.

After walking half the street, there was finally a sound of people in front of me, and a horse-drawn cart, donkey cart, and ox-cart stopped in front of me.

The coachman shouted in front: "Thirty Wen is one person, leave immediately, go to Xinzheng Gate!" Hurry up and line up if you want to go! A full car goes one car, no need to wait for a moment! ”

The donkey driver next to him shouted: "Twenty Wen is one person, go to Yangzhou Gate, there are few people in Yangzhou Gate, and Xinzheng Gate can't squeeze in!" You only look at the name of the Zhang family, and you can't see anything for a while! ”

- No one paid any attention to him, only a few hesitated, and the rest lined up on the carriage.

The donkey driver grabbed an old woman and persuaded her bitterly: "Grandma, there are many people in Xinzhengmen, you don't want to join in the excitement, your arms are going to be broken, I will send you to Yangzhou Gate, you can generally see the dragon scratching the mud!" ”

The old woman grinned, revealing the only front tooth that had fallen out, and said with a smile: "You don't have to scold me, there are a lot of people in Yangzhou Gate, three layers inside and three layers outside, and they can't squeeze in, so my son sent a letter back." ”

The donkey hurriedly said: "Yangzhou Gate is a lot of people, but how can it be better than Xinzheng Gate, when you arrive at the place, you will know that I don't blame you, I just sent a round of people back from Xinzheng Gate, when it is really a shoe to look down and can't find it!" ”

The old woman dragged him, and he couldn't leave, so he was very helpless, so he had to turn around halfway, swing a big bamboo basket behind him, and said, "Don't stop me, I'm going to Xinzhengmen to sell drinks!" There aren't many people, why should I sell them?! ”

He waved at the carriage and shouted, "Wait for me!" ”

Ran forward with a screech.

The donkey driver fell in place, but the more frustrated he became, the more courageous he became, he turned his head to look for Hu Er, and was about to step forward to persuade him, but he was waved by Hu Er's hand, and the urn said angrily: "Your donkey is unusable, running slowly, I am impatient to sit!" ”

The donkey driver had to pull a lot of people, and before he could speak, he showed Hu Er a pair of arms, and said like thunder: "Look at me like this, can't you squeeze others?" ”

The pig killer was fat and strong, and the person was also tall, standing in front, like a mountain of meat, and the donkey driver hurriedly stepped aside, for fear that if he was not careful, he would be crushed.

For a while, Hu Er arrived in front, and after paying the money, he sat in a car with the old woman, he saw that the basket behind the other party was heavy, and he didn't know what was in it, it was already bulging and swollen to squeeze out, so he helped to take the handle and lift the basket up.

The carriage was not big, but suddenly there was an old woman and a basket, and there was a big man like Hu Er, who was crowded when he boarded, and a few young people made a disgusted sound of "sigh" and "sigh", and glared at Hu Er with his eyes, shrank his head one by one, and did not dare to show his head again.

The old woman sat firmly, and thanked him busily: "You also went to see the dragon claw mud?" Be careful for a while, then Xinzhengmen is a lot of real people. ”

Hu Er responded, and then asked, "When did the dragon start grabbing mud?" Which place do you have to squeeze to look good? ”

The old woman was taken care of by him, and at this time she was happy to mention it, and said: "You are asking the right person, my son went to that place many times a few days ago, saying that Qin Tianjian watched the hour, and the moment was just right, let's go over now, I'm afraid we won't be able to wait for a long time, it's just the right time." ”

"When you cross the Jinming Pond, don't rush forward, just look along the river, and see that there is a willow tree in the middle, so you go to that place, and there is a row of banyan trees in front of you. Although the tree is not in the middle, the location is very good, and you can see the platform on the opposite bank. She said here, although it was chattering and rambling, but the people in the carriage looked at it.

"On the other hand, if you meet someone who tells you that they can cross you to the other side, and persuade you to wait until you reach the other side and then detour the path, you can just see the dragon scratching the mud, and the land is wide with few people, so don't believe it, it's all a lie!"

The old woman Yin Yin admonished: "The five or six miles of land on the other side of the strait are all sealed by the official office, and no one can enter, what else can you see if you are five or six miles apart?" It is better to stand behind the shore here, but if you meet the right one, buy a small few, say not half a head higher, and you can see more than two eyes. ”

There was some truth to this, and everyone nodded for a while.

The old woman was old, and she was a little dizzy when she sat in it, and couldn't help but pull up the curtain.

There are very few pedestrians outside, but there are a lot of cars and horses, all in a hurry, looking at that direction, most of them are either going to Xinzheng Gate, or hitting Xinzheng Gate back.

Sure enough, when he arrived at the place not long after, Hu Er opened the carriage door, and before his legs stepped on the ground, he was almost frightened by the scene in front of him.

The dismount was crowded with people, and there were still some gaps outside, and the further ahead, the more many people there were.

He stepped on the carriage, stood on tiptoe and looked into the distance, and sure enough, when he reached the bank of the river, it was already densely packed with human heads.

It rained for a long time a while, and yesterday and the day before yesterday it rained all day, and although it was dried overnight, there were still pools of water on the ground in some places.

The old woman at the back carried the bamboo basket on her back, got out of the car neatly, skillfully walked to the side, found a shade, put the basket away, spread a cloth on the ground, took out some food and drink, and sold it on the spot.

"Drink fragrant drinks! Sweet bean soup agarwood perilla drink cardamom drink, twenty wen a tube, sweet, fragrant and thirst-quenching! There is also a mung bean dumpling that has just come out of the pot, and I have one when I am hungry! ”

Although she was thin and short, her voice was far away, and someone listened to it for a while, and after a while, she gathered around her.

Hu Er watched her sell and collect money, counted it, and didn't even want to see the excitement, he just felt that this business was more profitable than selling pork by himself.

He stood for a while, and then a steady stream of people poured out from behind him, knowing that he could not stand here for a long time, and sure enough, according to the old woman's words, he looked up, looked for a willow tree not far away, and squeezed towards that place.

Hu Erren is tall and big, relying on his strength, and he is not afraid of colliding with others, Rao is like this, he squeezed for a long time, causing a lot of white eyes, and he has not yet reached the place.

Before he could reach the shade of the tree, there was a sudden noise of drumming in the crowd.

Hu Erhun didn't know why, he turned his head and asked, everyone was looking forward with their feet on their feet, but he couldn't answer, so he had to jump up and look at it for a while, but saw two big boats sailing down from the upstream one after the other.

From a distance, the ship was not more than ten zhang long and several zhang wide, and it was very battle-like.

Although Hu Er couldn't see the time, he knew that he was afraid that it was almost the time when the dragon was grabbing the mud, so he hurriedly squeezed forward and squeezed hard, and finally squeezed under the nearest banyan tree.

The old woman didn't lie to him, the location here is really good, but the trees are densely packed with people standing and sitting, where can I go up?

It's coming.

He gritted his teeth, grabbed the feet of the people above, stepped on the head and didn't know what to do, he hadn't forgotten the ability to climb trees when he was a child, and he climbed a branch a few times.

"Don't crowd around, you can't stand anymore!"

The man above shouted impatiently.

"Who stepped on Lao Tzu's legs and feet!"

The man below shouted angrily.

Hu Eryi didn't listen, picked up a seat, and arched his head forward.

Here is only three or four zhang away from the river bank, it is easy to see that the river water is yellow and muddy, and there is no difference between the mud mixed out of the same bowl of water and half a bowl of yellow mud, and the water potential is very great, and the river can be heard from a long distance.

The section of the river specially selected by the water supervisor here is three points narrower than the front, the river is bundled, squeezed small, the greater the water momentum, and a little bit of falling, the more the water is menacing.

"Here we go!"

I don't know who shouted.

There was a lot of voices from below, and everyone squeezed forward.

Fortunately, last night, the Kyoto Prefecture built a half-person-high wall in front of it overnight, which was one zhang wide from the river, so that people would not be too close, and there were patrol shops and forbidden troops in front of them, otherwise I am afraid that a row of people in front of them would be squeezed into the water.

At this time, some children were already crowded inside and cried, and some people were scolding and screaming.

Hu Er looked at the scene in his heart, even if he was not in it, he was still scared into a cold sweat.

"Look, isn't that a dragon's claw!"

Someone pointed ahead and shouted.

"Phew, you don't know anything, that's called Junchuan Tsuki! Can an ironclaw dragon be this big? ”

The others corrected him in disgust, and did not forget to explain to him, saying, "Look at that big paw?" It was made of a giant tree, eight feet long at the top, and two feet long at the bottom. ”

Then he pointed to the wooden claw in the river from afar, and said, "Have you ever seen the stone tied with a rope on the wooden ruler?" ”

The man in front of him hurriedly said, "I see." ”

"A while ago, someone behind Jin Mingchi crushed the boulder to death, have you heard of it? It's just to transport this stone! ”

Everyone at the bottom was crowded, and although many people on the tree were sitting with a sore buttocks, they were quite comfortable in the end.

The man looked like a storyteller, pointing at the boat and the loquat in the river.

"Have you ever seen the pulley in front of those two boats? That's for tethering! One of the big trees is deeply anchored into the boat, towing the rope with a pulley, pulling the loquat with the rope, loosening the mud and sand at the bottom, this comes and goes, the boat moves the sand, and naturally clears the silt at the bottom! ”

The people of Yishu nodded their heads and let out a sudden "oh" sound.

But Hu Er felt as if something was wrong.

The river has already begun to act.

The servants pressed the stones on the top of the river to a solid degree, and tied them layer after layer with thick ropes, lest the stones fall halfway through, and then wrapped the thick rope at the other end around the boat, and the pulley was ready.

Zhang Hu stood on the boat on the right, looking at the water below.

He's not the kind of guy who would sit on the shore.

He must watch his own affairs before he can rest assured.

He personally got on the boat, and the rest of the officials of the capital water supervisor naturally couldn't hide and followed one after another.

Although the boat was large, these dozens of people were on it, which made it more and more difficult for the craftsmen and people to move around.

Shen Cunfu was very dissatisfied, and complained to the same official: "Master He, I also persuade you, everyone is crowded up, and the people who work can't go up!" ”

Gao Ya on the side also lost his temper and said: "Forget about the craftsman, it doesn't matter if there are one or two less, the left and right today are just watching the loquat and the pulley and the boat, but there are fewer people, who will pull the rope and drag the pulley?!" ”

Then Master He was also a little helpless, but said: "Today's water is big, and it doesn't matter if you want to come with a few fewer people-Zhang Gongshi has already gone up, do you still want to get him down?!" ”

Shen Cunfu said impatiently: "Zhang can't get rid of his business, and no one else can get rid of him?" I can't do things, I just watch the excitement and flattery, how do you tell me to do this job?! ”