In the fourth year of Xuanhe of the Great Song Dynasty, a major earthquake occurred around Yanjing and was seriously affected.

In order to appease the people of Youyun who had just been recovered, Emperor Zhao Ji ordered Cai Zhen, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, who had just resigned from his post as the supervisor of the Northern Expedition, to go north again and take full responsibility for disaster relief.

In such a sensitive situation, no matter how stupid people are, they will not mess around, and the disaster relief and relief are going very smoothly.

But what ordinary people don't know is that there is an even bigger earthquake at the top of the imperial court.

The backbone of the Great Song Dynasty, the world-famous Zhao Bufan is missing.

Emperor Zhao Ji was furious, overturned the dragon case in the court meeting, ordered Cai Jing and the Imperial City Division to immediately send people secretly to find it, and at the same time ordered the important ministers of the court to delay the leakage of news, and only announced that Zhao Bufan was sick at home, and was promoted to the privy envoy, but in fact, Zheng Juzhong secretly acted as the agent.

This is all about mitigating the huge impact of Zhao Bufan's disappearance.

Now that the Northern Expedition has just ended, Zhao Bufan's prestige in the hearts of the people is very high, especially the people in the north simply worship him as a god, and suddenly disappeared inexplicably, God knows how much turmoil will occur, and if there is no deterrent existence for him, the newly reorganized Northern Army will definitely be unstable, and those who belong because of him will have great suspicions, and there is a possibility of large-scale defection to Jin at any time, which will make the Jin people lose a major scruple.

At present, Emperor Zhao Ji thinks that he has completed the great cause that his ancestors have not completed, and he is extremely concerned about the situation in the north, so he naturally understands these very well, so he is extremely angry at Zhao Bufan's disappearance, and cannot tolerate anyone to create turmoil in this sensitive period.

What's more, he already knew Zhao Bufan's life experience, he still had his own emotions, and he also had his own plans that he quietly carried out.

Can ...... now

Everything is going in a direction that is out of your control.

Fate is always full of surprises.

............

The Great Song Dynasty called the sea south of Qiongzhou Island as the South China Sea, and there are many island groups in the South China Sea, the archipelago closer to Qiongzhou is called Qianli Changsha, and the archipelago further south is called Wanli Shitang, which has been the territory of the Chinese people since the Tang Dynasty.

Nowadays, these areas are also under the supervision of the Great Song Dynasty sailors, many islands are the supply points of the Maritime Silk Road, and there is an archipelago country further south of Wanli Shitang, called Sriwijaya, successive kings have sent envoys to the Great Song Dynasty to pay tribute, Song Shenzong and Song Zhezong and other successive emperors have also canonized their envoys as generals.

These three Buddhas benefited from the extreme prosperity of the Maritime Silk Road, and the economy was quite prosperous, with more than a dozen subject countries.

It is a long and narrow peninsula in the north, on the same continent as the Great Song Dynasty, located in the south of the Queen Kingdom and the Angkor Kingdom, and between the northern peninsula and the main island in the south is a huge strait, which is also an important shipping route of the Maritime Silk Road.

As a result, many prosperous seaport cities were formed on both sides of the strait, especially in the southernmost part of the northern peninsula, Puluo Harbour, and because of the extremely open attitude of the Sriwijaya, everything could be seen here, including the primitive and barbaric slave trade.

The magistrate's office even set aside a separate slave market not far from the port.

At this time, in the northeast corner of the slave market, there was a merchant from the Chola Kingdom who was shouting loudly, and behind him were more than a dozen cages, each holding a person, some male and some female, some strong, some thin, and with different faces.

Most of them were desperate, their eyes numb, and they had no energy, except for the young man in the cage in the middle.

Although he was disheveled, bearded, and wore only a pair of trousers, no different from other slaves, his scarred and muscular body made him stand out from the rest, especially his eyes, which were very bright.

At this time, he was imprisoned by heavy chains on his hands and feet, and his back was against the iron rails of the cage, and he remained silent.

This sturdy young man was none other than Zhao Bufan, who had been secretly sold to an ocean-going merchant.

He had spent months as a slave, following the damned Chola merchant adrift at sea, carrying cargo and clearing decks, to the prosperous port of Puluo.

At present, the merchant of the Chola Kingdom has made enough money and plans to return to his hometown to live a rich life, so he wants to resell all these hard laborers, because Zhao Bufan is extremely strong and handsome, he plans to sell it for a high price, but as a result, he scared off many customers, and he didn't sell it.

His price tag was a dinar, that is, a gold coin, which was indeed a very high price for a slave.

The sun was gradually setting, the noisy slave market quickly quieted down, and the slaves in the other cages had been sold, but Zhao Bufan was still lying alone in the cage, drowsy.

The Chola merchant seemed to give up, turned around and walked over to the cage and kicked the iron fence.

"I heard that you used to be a nobleman in the Song Kingdom, but now you can't even sell a dinar, how can you recover your living expenses in the past few months? You have always been very smart, I hope you can also use your cleverness to save yourself now, you know, if you can't sell it, I will throw you into the sea." ”

After a few months of getting along, Zhao Bufan could still understand what he said, looked at him silently for a long time, and replied in extremely jerky Zhuluo language: "Civilian slaves, it's worthless, I will use a sword to disclose my status as a nobleman of the Song Kingdom, and you can sell more." ”

The merchants of Chola appeared to be delighted.

"Great advice, your life was saved. ”

He paused for a moment, and suddenly showed a sly smile: "Do you know why I came to Puluo Harbor for so many days, and I didn't take you out until the last day to sell you?"

"Why?"

"Because the ocean-going fleet of Song Guoju Xianzhuang just left the port last night, there are no Song people in Puluo Harbor, you know, I have always been careful. ”

The words of the merchants of the Zhu Luo Kingdom made Zhao Bufan silent for a long time.

His fists clenched, but eventually loosened again.

The insect Gu made his peerless martial arts useless, and the current force could not resist at all, and meaningless anger could only show powerlessness and weakness, no different from wailing.

In the evening, the merchants of the Chola Kingdom gave him a chicken leg and told him: "Your luck is good, I have transferred you to the merchants of the Republic of Venice, and they have offered you a good price, you are no longer a slave, and you will be their mercenary in the future, but you better not think of escaping, they will surely send you to the gallows, I told them that you are a fallen nobleman of the Song Kingdom, and you had better not go out of your way, if you arouse their suspicion, you will also die a miserable death, and I will tell you this for the sake of ten dinars." ”

Zhao Bufan silently nibbled on the chicken legs, ignored him, fell asleep after eating, and silently waited for the unknown fate.

He had only one thought in his mind.

To live, you must live......

Early the next morning, the merchants of the Republic of Venice came, tall and with blue eyes.

He looked at Zhao Bufan carefully for a long time, his face full of curiosity.

"Are you a down-and-out nobleman from the Song Kingdom?

Zhao Bufan felt that he was asking himself, but the problem was that he couldn't understand what he said, so he could only point to his ear and wave his hand.

At this time, the merchants of the Zhu Luo Kingdom stood up and translated his words for Zhao Bufan, and added: "You'd better not tell the truth, if you let them know that you are a trouble, they will only have two choices, one is to directly refuse my transfer, so that I will immediately let my guards throw you into the sea, and the other is that they think you are full of lies and will refuse my transfer, and then I will still throw you into the sea."

For the sake of the ten dinars, I finally remind you, don't divulge the past at will, your past has nothing to do with anyone, even if you were once a famous general of the Song Kingdom, even if you were the righteous son of the Emperor of the Song Kingdom, but now you are just a humble person living in a foreign land, there is nothing to prove your identity, and you have obtained an entry permit as a slave.

No, now I've changed you to a hired guard, but it doesn't matter, the important thing is that no one will believe you, nonsense will only bring disaster to you, and even if you think of a way to prove your identity one day, it's better not to show it to others, as an important person in the Song Kingdom, you will be miserable if you appear alone in a distant country under a false identity without an entry permit, they will not care who you used to be. ”

Zhao Bufan raised his head and looked at him quietly: "I'm not as stupid as you think." ”

"Okay, then I'll just make up an identity for you, how about the baron? Oh, by the way, the title of Song Guo should be the founding man?"

"Whatever you want!" Zhao Bufan replied lightly.

The merchant of the Chola Kingdom turned his head, crackled and said to the Venetian merchant, and then looked at it with a smile: "I told him that your name is Zhao Qing, originally a baron of the Song Kingdom, and a general who led troops, but because you violated military law and angered the emperor, you were exiled, and you didn't want to live a miserable life, so you escaped from the Song Realm, planning to find a way out elsewhere, become my mercenary, and come here." ”

"What did he say?" Zhao Bufan asked.

The merchant of Zhuluo Country said with a smile: "He said very well, he likes you as a mercenary who has no concern, if you follow him well, he can even let you be his mercenary captain in the future, and because you are of noble birth, you will be very promising, but your name is too tongue-twisting, he asked you to take another name called Liluo, in addition, you have to believe in the God of Light, worship the Pope, accept the baptism of the Holy See of Light, and become a member of the Church of Light, and Lilo will also be your religious name." ”

"No problem!" Zhao Bufan shrugged indifferently.

The merchant of the Zhuluo Kingdom immediately looked at him with disdain: "You are really a guy who has no faith, and you can change your faith so easily?"

“......”

Zhao Bufan chose to remain silent.

The Chola merchant cursed a few words, then turned to talk to the Venetian merchant crookedly.

At this time, the Venetian merchant seemed to be very happy, and his blue eyes looked at Zhao Bufan from time to time, full of appreciation.

After a while, the merchant of the Chola Kingdom looked over again and said excitedly: "Zhao Bufan, oh! no! I should call you Liluo now, the other party is very happy with your choice, he feels that he has spread the glory of the God of Light, and has decided to add two more dinars to me, if there is no problem, then you can follow him!" For the sake of the twelve dinars, I wish you a safe arrival in Venice, and give you one last advice, don't talk nonsense over there, if you are regarded as a heretic by fanatics with bad intentions, you will die a miserable death, and most ordinary people don't know what the Song Kingdom is at all!"

Zhao Bufan was silent.

After that, the merchants of the Chola Kingdom left with a smile on their faces, and the Venetian merchants asked the guards behind him to give Zhao Bufan a set of leather armor, a pair of leather combat boots, a two-handed sword, two daggers, a longbow and a pot of arrows, and took him on board the fleet to the Republic of Venice......