Odosia jumped out of the carriage and heard Li Xuanying singing a song in an unfamiliar key while playing the piano at the door.

She stepped forward and slammed the door hard.

"Who?" Li Xuanying asked inside.

"Me." Odosia said.

Li Xuanying walked over and opened the door and let her in. Through the light, she saw the rather delicate-looking instrument behind Li Xuanying.

On the opposite side of the wall, there was a desk with a stack of manuscript paper and a lamp. On the bookshelf next to it, there are still a lot of messy books and stationery. An old man wearing a turban stood behind the side of the door, which happened to be the blind spot of the window. He glanced at Odosia quickly, then quietly pressed the knife back from his waist and paced back to the table.

Li Xuanying didn't seem to notice these small movements, but asked with some surprise, "Why did you suddenly come here in the middle of the night?" ”

"There's a mess up outside, haven't you noticed?" Odosia asked.

"Isn't it so chaotic to engage in activities these days? I'm numb. Li Xuanying replied a little helplessly, and introduced it by the way: "Oh, this is Mr. Luo Guanzhong." I haven't had time to bring you to him before. ”

"You're the tragic writer who's been particularly famous lately." Odosia greeted him politely: "I have also heard of your work. It's a pleasure to meet you today. ”

"It's been awarded, it's been awarded, Xiao Lao can't afford this praise." Luo Guanzhong hurriedly arched his hand and humbly said.

"Mr. Luo doesn't have to be too modest." Li Xuanying smiled and said to Odosia: "This gentleman is already quite famous in the East. ”

"Oh, then you ......"

"Hey, the old man can't get along over there." Luo Guanzhong saw her doubts and took the initiative to explain: "My ancestor, Mr. Shi, is Zhang Shicheng's staff. Although he later resigned and returned home and began to sort out folk tales and rural rumors, he was still implicated. ”

"My family is a merchant in Shanxi Province and is engaged in the silk business, so I often have to go to Suzhou and Hangzhou to buy goods. It was during that time that I learned a lot from the local gentlemen. But after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court did not like people like us, so we could only do private activities, and make a living by writing books and screenwriting. ”

"I see." Eudocia seems to have understood.

"Our work is not very popular." He said helplessly: "Mr. Shi once planned to create a film with the theme of rebellion by heroes in the rivers and lakes. He prepared to write the entire book in the vernacular so that it could be disseminated in the market. However, he didn't write long before he was caught by the Ming Dynasty government, saying that he wrote a 'book of advocating chaos', and he was imprisoned in the Criminal Department for more than a year before he was released. ”

"Of course, I don't think it's inevitable either. In that book, many stories are nominally from the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, but the prototype is estimated to refer to Zhang Shicheng and others. I asked him, and he didn't give me a direct affirmative answer, but I felt that although he had a falling out in the end, he did miss or regret those people. ”

"At that time, Emperor Zhu was still the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and he was very strict. Before the book was finished and was not printed, an official suddenly came to the door to get someone. Now that I think about it, it is estimated that he recites poems on the streets and alleys every day, and discusses the plot of his works with others, so that everyone knows about it......"

"Mr. Luo has experienced this kind of thing himself." Li Xuanying said: "Compared with the Ming Dynasty, the supervision of literary creation in the Yuan Dynasty was indeed much more relaxed. ”

"He's not lax, it's not managed at all." Luo Guanzhong complained: "As for whether it's good or not...... It depends on what you need. ”

"For example, Mr. Lu Yuan, a good friend of Mr. Shi, is a native of Lin'an Mansion, and he was admitted to Jinshi and became a county magistrate in Songjiang Mansion. When the people revolted, Mr. Lu followed the prime minister and led the people to support the Great Khan. After the defeat, he also returned to his hometown to live in seclusion, and the Ming Dynasty was recruited several times, but he resolutely refused and did not want to go out. Mr. Shi has close contact with several of them, and often sings poems and harmonizes with each other, so I also know a little about their mentality. ”

"After Mr. Shi passed away, several of our disciples were entrusted by him to sort out his works. Especially the last part of "Water Margin", which has not yet been finalized. may be a little far from the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, and the obstruction I have received is not as great as theirs. However, it is not realistic to want to be an official. ”

"In order to make ends meet and publish books, I traveled all over Jiangnan all year round. On the one hand, I collected wonderful folk tales and miscellaneous passages, and on the other hand, I also visited old friends and met talented gentlemen. Most of the materials I use to tell the story now were collected at that time. ”

"So if you want to say whether there is any resentment, there must still be back then. But after more than 20 years, I'm used to it, and I'm okay anyway......" he smiled self-deprecatingly.

"Then why did you leave your homeland again?" Although she looked anxious when she entered the door, Odosia didn't rush to say what she was going to do, and took the opportunity to ask.

"I'm used to this kind of day, but after the funeral of Emperor Zhu, the court seems to be a little unstable. Later, I suddenly heard that there was a big mess in the capital. Luo Guanzhong said.

"At that time, I happened to be away from home, trying to find a suitable printing shop and publish the parts that had been sorted out before. As a result, he was treated as a suspect and arrested in the prison of the county government. ”

"I heard that there was a sudden turmoil in the capital at that time, and King Wu took advantage of the chaos to escape for some reason, and now he is still hiding among the people. The official is looking for someone around. Because the stakes are so high, if you see any suspicion, you should catch it first. I'm a foreigner, wandering around in Songjiang Mansion, and I usually write some Yuefu poems, using double entendres to mock people. The official estimated that Xiao Lao didn't look like a good person, so he took me too......"

"Ah......" Li Xuanying also knew about it, and was a little helpless for a while.

"But that time it was lucky, it didn't take long for the matter to be cleared up, and I was released. But to be honest, it still scares people enough. Anyway, I felt that the habit of casual sarcasm had to be changed. Luo Guanzhong also said with some fear: "You know, Hu Weiyong's case hasn't passed for too long." Everyone thought that something big was going to happen again. A few of my friends suggested that I go out to sea to hide as well, so I quickly packed up my things and fled with them. ”

"I think I've heard a lot about escaping into the sea." Li Xuanying thought for a while and said, "But it's normal, after all, the Ming Dynasty can't be exhaustive, and it can make people need to escape secretly, which is already considered a strict management." ”

"Like us, if you want to escape, you probably don't need to make special preparations. As long as you avoid the few frontlines that are fighting all year round, there is basically little management in other places, and you can run in and out. ”

"Is it okay to run in?" Luo Guanzhong said curiously.

"Yes, there are quite a few people who come here every year." Li Xuanying told him: "We usually gather them together and send them to the newly developed villages in the north of Crimea. Although the conditions are a little harder, there are land and tax exemption policies, so many people come directly for this. However, in what way did the overseas Yuan Dynasty forces attract people? ”

"Generally, it is not them who take the initiative to attract, but those who are dissatisfied with the court take the initiative to escape. In Jiangnan, there are actually many such people. Luo Guanzhong told him: "The local merchants told me that the imperial court seized the seaport at every turn on the grounds of preventing the Yuan Dynasty, but they still have to do business with the maritime merchants in Songjiang." Therefore, big businessmen basically have private channels to buy and ship goods on the black market, and even smuggle goods directly. After all, the government's regulatory capacity is limited, and it is impossible to completely ban it. As long as there is a channel, it is still possible to escape. ”

"Moreover, I have some dealings with them all year round, and with Mr. Shi's face, they are still more concerned. The Javanese sent a ship to pick us up. After I got there, the patriarch of the Chen clan valued me and asked me to be his staff. ”

"Isn't that good?" Odosia asked.

"At first, it was fine, but after a few years of stability, Mrs. Chen also passed away, and among his children and grandchildren, there were no too capable people, but they were all addicted to competing with each other. I was also thrown out of my staff and went to work as the governor of an island. Luo Guanzhong said.

"Isn't that a good thing, on the one hand, away from disputes, and on the other hand, it is also a position of real power." Li Xuanying said.

"I don't know how to count it in other places, but in Javanese, the position of local governor is particularly risky. At least not for me. Luo Guanzhong shook his head.

"It's the same as gambling. The Javanese court would select a group of people and throw them on an island or a manor. They don't care where these people come from, what their background is, as long as someone guarantees them, or pays a corresponding deposit, or mortgages something else, they can take office. ”

"I heard that they even helped the corrupt officials of the Ming Dynasty to escape, and then let these people become magistrates, in the name of cherishing talents, so that everyone can maintain their original official rank. In fact, for the sake of safety, they will leave their families in Java and let them go to various islands to deal with the natives. ”

"In the Ming Dynasty, corrupt officials who didn't dare to wait...... Can such a person really be used? Won't it stir up the officialdom into a miasma? Li Xuanying asked.

"Didn't you hear Mr. Luo say, this is to be the governor of a place where the natives live." Odosia couldn't help but interject as a reminder.

"Yes, that's what the girl is talking about." Luo Guanzhong explained: "The Javanese imperial court for the local governor, county order, and even the prefect is a way to include taxes, which is a bit similar to the Western Zhou Dynasty. As long as you can provide enough tribute every year, the court doesn't care what you do or how much you are greedy. ”

"If the most capable greedy people can squeeze more oil and water out of the local area, and hand over more goods or manpower to the court in order to buy higher official positions and more power, the court will not only punish them, but reward them—they wish everyone could be more greedy."

"Then, what if the natives rebel?" Li Xuanying asked.

"Their place is different from the Central Plains, and it is not very convenient to travel between various places of residence, and only part of the time every year can be passed. The natives were also divided into many different tribes and chiefdoms, who were not in a group with each other, often did not understand the language, and attacked each other from time to time. Even the powerful local kings who originally existed were often the lords of a relatively strong city-state, using trade and power to force others to submit. Luo Guanzhong said:

Therefore, even if the natives of a place want to rebel, no one else responds; Even if they all want to rebel, it is difficult for them to unite with each other, willingly, militarily. The coastal places are much more convenient, but naval warfare is more technological, and the superiority in numbers is not reflected. Compared with the wooden rows of the natives, the giant ships of the Yuan army have incomparable advantages. Therefore, the routes everywhere have always been firmly controlled by the Yuan army sailors. ”

"Even if the natives build a manor or an island, it is useless. Soon, the sailor will bring in the Javanese Yuan to suppress it, and will also bring many servant armies of other races. These natives from other places were often much more cruel than the Yuan army. Once the army has passed, often even the original tribe is gone. As for those local kings whose fiefs were more developed and had power and prestige, they were afraid that the Ming Dynasty would be far superior to the Yuan army. It is better to give up a small part of the power than to help the Yuan Dynasty to prevent it from being reclaimed by the Ming army. Therefore, they are not afraid of rebellion. ”

"Of course, for local officials, there are risks. Depending on the situation, the central government of the Yuan Dynasty will arrange some start-up funds for you, or let you receive some troops left by your predecessors. However, the good places have long been divided between the big clans and their cronies, and newcomers like us can only go to more difficult places, and often there is little support. Rich people can open joints, or simply hire a bunch of guards. If you don't have money, you can only borrow money and then go for it. ”

"After all, I was still in the name of a guest of the Chen family at that time, and the government was not too lazy, and arranged dozens of county officials for me, so I went to take office as a county magistrate. After going there, I found that the so-called prefectural order was actually a plantation owner. There were two nominally subservient tribes next to the manor, and there was a small wharf next to the county office, and cargo ships would come once a month. Other than that, there's nothing. ”

"I calculated, the output of the manor is enough to meet the tax requirements of the imperial court, and I don't know where more things come from. An old official told me that I had to find a way to ask the natives. It turned out that the natives in the manor, after learning to farm, would also open up some land to plant; When I work on weekdays, I often hide some things privately. If I can harvest this part of the output, it will be my own. ”

"It's really about the same as some countries in Europe." Odosia also told Li Xuanying: "I heard that in Alemani, the biggest risk of tax revenue is not how much it is embezzled, but that the tax collector will directly take the tax and run away. Therefore, the high lord would rather divide the feudal feud and receive a smaller tribute, rather than send someone to collect it directly - at least the vassals will not run away casually. ”

"Oh my God—"

(End of chapter)