"Not feeling well? The younger brother heard that you were beaten out of the door by the general! ”

"Li Er, you are indeed too frivolous in reasoning, what a heavenly man the general is! Which son in the house is not one in a hundred heroes! But I got mixed up with a scoundrel like you! ”

"According to me, it's better for you to move out of this street quickly, and find a shop that doesn't know you to be a helper, rather than eating at home."

The contemptuous spirit of those people appeared in front of his eyes from time to time, and every time he thought of it, he became angry and hateful.

What's even more infuriating and hateful is that he has no way to refute them, so he has to spit hard and walk away.

"Where does the general want the villain to send the letter?"

"I want you to send this letter to Yuzhang Taishou Zhuge Xuan," Lu Hangyu picked up the letter, but he was not busy handing it to him, "But before sending the letter, you have to inquire about one thing first." ”

Although for Li Er, he didn't understand where "Yuzhang" was at all, he didn't hesitate to skip the question, but boldly raised his head and looked at the female general.

"What do you inquire? The general, please command, and the villain will be remembered in his heart. ”

Lu Hangyu was wearing a half-worn cloth robe, and she did not comb her woman's hair in a bun, but still tied her hair with a turban, just like she used to be, and she frowned when she heard this question.

"I heard that Zhuge Xuan was an old friend of Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao, and since he went to defect, Liu Jingsheng said that he was a Yuzhang Taishou," Lu Xuanyu said, "and now there are rumors that Zhu Jun refused to echo the rebellious people like Li Dao and Guo Yan, and died of anger." In order to show his loyalty, courage and righteousness, the imperial court named his son Zhu Hao as Yuzhang Taishou. ”

The words Lu Hangyu said were completely like a book from heaven to Li Er, he didn't know who Zhuge Xuan was, he didn't know who Liu Biao was, he didn't know where Jingzhou was, and he didn't know what Zhu Hao had to do with Zhuge Xuan.

But he knew that this was a rare and precious opportunity for him, and he absolutely could not give it up, so he memorized every word the general said, and prepared to secretly ask Cao Wen, a subordinate of Tian Zhushu, when he went out in the future.

"When you arrive in Yuzhang, you have to inquire carefully," she said, "which of these two county guards does Yuzhang recognize?" If you recognize Zhuge Xuan, you don't have to send a letter, come back the same way, if you recognize Zhu Hao, you send this letter to Zhuge Xuan, do you understand? ”

…… So if you want to say that, he just needs to say that the answer is the former, and he doesn't even have to go?

Such a thought flashed slightly in Li Er's mind, and before he could quickly veto it, the female general spoke again.

As if to see what he was thinking just now, Lu Hangyu smiled softly.

"Li Er, the third general borrowed me dozens of parts, I will send a few to accompany you, you must bring this letter to you, if you are negligent, I don't want your head, you will go home and eat yourself from now on, okay?"

Li Eryi burst into tears in an instant.

"How the general looks down on the villain!" He choked up, "The villain is dead!" Don't dare to disappoint the general! ”

Chapter 173

For the vast majority of civilians in this era, their entire range of activities was limited to their hometowns, and they spent many years begging for a living in their own fields, and occasionally leaving their villages to go to a nearby county seat, which was already a great event.

Although Li Er only has one thatched hut and two piglets, he is a Luoyang person, and occasionally accompanies the old master or the young master to go out of the city to collect a pig, and there are opportunities to turn around and open his eyes, but he can't compare to the few henchmen around the old master, and those people even followed the old master and went to Xingyang, which is two hundred miles away!

When they returned, they told again and again in the butcher's shop what they had seen and heard on the road, the old man who mysteriously appeared and disappeared by the roadside, the beautiful woman who would knock on the window at night in the inn, the wild beast in the forest who had taken someone's child and gone quietly, and the villagers who lit torches and went into the mountains to look for people, and finally found only a piece of wreckage.

Those dangerous and bizarre stories were firmly remembered by Li Er, and later those few people followed the old master to Zhuangzi outside the city, and it was Li Er's turn to tell them these stories.

In the capital of Luoyang City or the Han Dynasty, when the people of Luoyang were not worth worrying about where to find something to eat to fill their stomachs the next day, it was not worth worrying about other things, Li Er really thought that although the world was big, he would only follow the young master to Xingyang - a place two hundred miles away in his life.

Now he knew that the heavens and the earth were great, and that the heavens and the earth in his understanding were constantly expanding.

Hearing that he was going south to Yuzhang, his wife's face showed a look of anger and worry, but on the whole she was very happy.

"You're setting off with the Mi family's caravan this time?" "Then I'm much more relieved," she asked. ”

"What's so worrying about this," Li Er said, "When I come back, I'll bring you some hairpin ring silk from Yuzhang, so that the women in the neighborhood will be envious when they see it!" ”

His wife's face changed, "Lang Jun gave you the travel expenses, how can you use them at will!" ”

"What kind of casual use is this, don't worry," Li Er patted his chest, "Lang Jun doesn't care about these two little golden cakes at all, I understand this errand, no matter what, I have to send the letter to the Zhuge County Guard." ”

"Then you ...... too"

"This Xuzhou is not as prosperous as Luoyang!" Li Er said in disgust, "When I go out to explore, there will be a very prosperous town, so I can buy some things for you to come back!" ”

This part of the journey is divided into two parts: the first half is in Xuzhou, and the second half is up the Yangtze River.

The weather is gradually getting cooler, and you can get a good night's sleep in the morning and evening. The Mi family caravan has a big business, with the messenger of the general Lu, naturally there is a lot of care, along the way in the villages and towns have the Mi family has already made a good place to stay, although these residences are often just some mud huts and grass huts, but it is better to shelter from the wind and rain, the hay is laid, and then the flat cover roll is lying on it, it is a good night's sleep.

There had been thieves on this road several times before, and then General Guan led 500 cavalry, and then wiped out more than 10,000 thieves, which was really brave.

The journey from Xiapi to Guangling is not said to be extremely smooth, but it can be regarded as safe and sound, but since Guangling got on the ship, the journey has changed.

Many years later, facing his grandchildren, Li Er would still recall the afternoon when he boarded the rice cargo ship of the Mi family caravan at the dock.

The waves surged to the east without resting for a moment, but the river wind went upstream, from east to west. With this river breeze, Guangling's merchant ships could go all the way to the southwest, passing through Jianye, Lujiang, Jiujiang, and finally arriving at Nanchang City in Yuzhang.

At this time, it has passed the middle of summer, but it has not yet reached the early autumn, the river is growing, when the sails are full, although it is against the river, the speed of the ship is not slow at all, but the Mijia fleet is very cautious, every time to a wharf, always meet with the rest of the ships before continuing to move forward.

Li Er initially thought that taking a boat was a new thing, but soon he didn't feel that way.

He sat on the boat for a few days, and vomited for a few days, first with food, then with soup and water, and then with so much vomiting that even the bile had to be vomited, and within a few days, he lost a lot of weight.

…… He is not the only one, but the veterans of Youzhou who the three generals gave to their own generals are also like this.

Even so, when the fleet docked, the captain did not allow them to disembark.

"There are canalists on both sides of the river, what should you be a good place to go?"

"Excuse me......" Li Er asked cautiously, "What is 'Qu Master'?" ”

The captain of the ship gave him a cold look, "Do you think this is a peaceful year?" The drain master is the water thief! ”

Several northern veterans also changed their expressions, "There are still water thieves on this river?" Isn't there a royal law? ”

"Now that the county guards are attacking each other, and this section of the waterway is under the rule of Yuan Shu, are there still fewer thieves under him? If ordinary people dare to dock at will, they will rob and sell them as slaves, how can you let you live if you know the identity of Lao Ge at first sight! ”

There are merchant ships on the shore, and naturally there are people who come and go to get off the ship, standing on the deck and looking at it, the villages on the shore are full of fireworks, there are domestic servants who carry goods, there are guest houses for eating and lodging, there are bewitching women, and there seems to be a place for gambling money in the depths.

"This ......" Li Er didn't give up, and asked again, "This looks very peaceful......

"There are countless water villages on both sides of the strait, and there were Jinfan thieves hidden at the beginning! You see that it is peaceful at this time, and the night has changed! The strong man said, "Even the merchant ships coming and going on this river must gather dozens or even hundreds of ships before they dare to set off together!" ”

That night, Li Er slept very unsteadily.

He was in a trance, as if he had some dreams.

I dreamed of the days when I killed pigs in Luoyang, and I dreamed of the days when I went to Chang'an with the neighbors of Dongsandao, and I dreamed of the days when I followed Lu Hangyu from Chang'an and came all the way to the plains.

He once walked on a dirt road in the jungle step by step in the mud that had rained heavily, pulling a cart.

Tongxin was very sick at that time, Xiao Lang couldn't stop crying, Lu Hangyu left them to hunt and look for food, so Li Er had to briefly assume the responsibility of the captain of this team, while clearing out a flat land and setting up a mud stove, while clumsily comforting Xiao Lang and taking care of Tongxin.

Although he was extremely embarrassed during that time, he did not worry or fear anything at all.

Everyone knows that as long as Lu Langjun does not fall, he will always protect them.

And in the middle of the night, less than a month after leaving Xiapi, Li Er suddenly trembled lightly with fear.

He didn't know what he was afraid of, but he woke up.

The bilge was so hot that there were no windows, and it was pitch black, so you couldn't see anything.

But he seemed to hear people screaming, someone crying, the crackling of the flames, and the shouting of curses.

There is the sound of falling water, there is the cry for help, and there is the sharp sound of sharp objects intersecting.

There were people walking around on deck, and there were people sternly commanding something.

Li Er couldn't sleep anymore, he sat up, quietly groped around, and found that the veterans were gone.

He only touched one corner.

So he leaned against the corner, burst into tears, whispered Lu Hangyu for a while, and scolded Lu Hangyu for a while, and then he was hit until dawn.

The Mi family's fleet was safe and sound, but the mooring was a little farther away from the dock, whether it was the sailors or the veterans, they had already put away their knives at this time, and they chatted with ease.

It's not like that at all.

He saw floating corpses slowly drifting downstream in the river, and the appearance of those people was extremely fresh, and he knew at a glance that they had not been soaked in the water for long.

There were broken planks that drifted down with them.

There are also some sporadic goods that drift down.

There were more than a dozen light boats on the river, and there were some strong men with knotted muscles standing on the boats, and when they saw the goods, they hooked them with hooks.

The dozen or so light boats went further downstream, and there were still some fishermen waiting, scooping up the smashing of the boat boards, scooping up the floating corpses, and after fishing for the corpses, they hurriedly stripped off their clothes, and then threw back into the river those objects that were not covered with clothes and could no longer be called "people"—whether those people were dressed as civilians, merchants, or scholars, it was really not a big matter.

"Leaving the waters of Guangling, that's it." The captain of the ship, who had not slept all night, was looking to the east, and when he saw him coming up, he said something casually.

Li Er suddenly felt that whether it was the plain or Xuzhou, although the city was dilapidated and not as far as Luoyang, it was still very good compared to what he had seen and heard in Xuzhou.

People in Xuzhou, they don't feel different, since they go out of Xuzhou, it is difficult to see their comparison.

"The Zhu family's fleet is here!" The boat boss shouted, "Sons, get ready to set sail!" ”

It was the fleet of the Zhu clan of Wu County, and the canal masters on both sides of the Yangtze River wanted to give him a chance, although the fleet of people was not for nothing, and they also needed some good gifts, but it was much better than being swarmed and chewed up by the water thieves.

This mighty fleet of more than 100 ships slowly first reached the Lujiang River, and then went all the way south, crossed the Jiujiang River and Poyang Lake, and finally stopped the ship in Nanchang.

This Nanchang City is a big city in Yuzhang County, so no matter whether the goods shipped by Xu Yang upstream, or the goods transported by Shu downstream, they will always meet here, and the prosperity is indeed very prosperous, but Li Er has no intention of shopping for the time being.

…… He already felt a little like a world away.

Therefore, the first thing he had to do was to ask the people of the city quickly.

"What is the surname of the Taishou in this city now? …… Surname Zhu? Oh...... The original one...... What about that Zhuge Taishou? ”

It turned out that the Taishou was not in Nanchang City.

There is a soil city in the west of the city, the earth city is nameless, so it is called "the west city" by the people of Yuzhang, the city wall is about more than one zhang high, and there are two city gates in the north and south. Most of the people who stayed here were shy caravans, and there were also some bandits and scoundrels who couldn't stay in Nanchang City.

A few months ago, there was a rather new person here, much to the surprise of the townspeople.

This scribe claimed to be Yuzhang Taishou, but he was driven out by Zhu Hao, the newly appointed Yuzhang Taishou of the imperial court, and had nowhere to go but to be trapped in Xicheng. When he left Nanchang City, Zhuge Xuan still had hundreds of soldiers with him, but he couldn't get supplies in this western city, and those soldiers slowly dispersed.

But except for two or three families in Xicheng, there is no family that can lend grain.

Zhuge Xuan's family came to visit each other, and then was driven out by these families.

But he didn't get nothing, he at least retained the title of "Taishou", and even got a little benefit for the people of Xicheng-

When the scoundrels in the city drank wine and ate meat, they would laugh and be very happy at the mention of this poor creature.

When the people heard about this, they laughed and were very happy.

Even if this Mr. Zhuge was born in a Langya family, and was regarded as Yuzhang Taishou by Jingzhou Mubiao, what is the use of being so different from untouchables like them?

He could only hide in the hut in the corner of the city day and day, and the family he brought with him could only stay there. I heard that there was some movement in the earthen courtyard in the past two days, and the "Taishou" seemed to want to quietly send those juniors to Jingzhou. But there are only a few old servants left by his side, and if these servants are sent away to escort his nephews and nieces, won't this "Taishou" be alone, waiting to be killed?