.

As we walked down the river, the wind was gentle. I saw a group of egrets staying on the old trees by the river, with a leisurely scenery.

The merchant ship was hired by a large merchant institution named Liu Jing. There was no one else except for a few merchants who walked together. In ancient times, transportation was inconvenient, so only merchants traveled around the world and saw far more knowledge than others. Several merchants talked about everything and talked about the customs and properties everywhere. Chen De relied on his knowledge and talked with them, pretending to be like a merchant who had been trafficking things abroad all year round, without any suspicion. Liu Jing even tried in his words, hoping that Chen De would work with him to work with Shu Jin smuggling business, and Chen De also responded vaguely. His style made Xin Gu and Xiao Jiu secretly admire him, and thought that Wei Ti knew people with keen eyes. If it were other Northern Han soldiers, they would have been exposed.

It was getting late on that day, and the weather was calm, and the merchants were greedy for a journey and urged the boatmen to take advantage of the moonlight until they could be docked until midnight. The dinner was made of steamed buns with broad beans and smoked fish, and several merchants were left to drink in the cabin. Chen De quietly stood on the bow of the boat with his hands behind his back to watch the moon. At this time, the Yangtze River did not have the bustle and busyness of the boats coming and going. The river surface was silent and the shimmering waves appeared under the moonlight.

Xin Gu and Xiao Jiu followed Chen De closely, and only heard Chen De shaking his head and chanting: "The stars hang down flat and the wilderness is wide, and the moon surging the river." The two were confused, but they heard Chen De say: "Huh? Where is such a big ship?"

The two followed Chen De's eyes and saw a tall tower ship floating under the full moon at the intersection of the water and sky. There was a medium-sized speedboat in front of the tower ship to protect each other. Xiao Jiu whispered, "No! I'm afraid I can't get out of it if I hit the navy's warship." As soon as he finished speaking, the fleet in front had released three small boats, and smoothly arrived at the merchant ship they were on. At this moment, the ship boss was panicked. The merchant ship could not escape the navy's warship on the river surface, so he simply set sail and let the ship cross the middle of the river, waiting like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

At this moment, everyone in the cabin had noticed that the merchants and boatmen were huddling at the bow and stern looking into the distance. Chen De and the other two took a few steps back and mixed among the crowd. Xiao Jiu had already awakened Li Shun who had just fallen asleep, and grabbed him tightly with his palm-pinned big hands, so that the curious boy would not squeeze in front.

Seeing that the boat was getting closer and closer, everyone became more and more worried. Suddenly, Liu Jing let out a long sigh and shouted, "It's the ship of the Jiangnan Navy." Everyone immediately showed joy and began to talk in groups of three or three.

Seeing Chen De's eyes inquiring, Xiao Jiu explained: "The ships of the Song Dynasty's naval army were all newly built, and the style was different from those in the old Jiangnan. Moreover, when Song people came from afar, they often killed and seized goods when they encountered merchant ships from other countries. Most of the navy in the Tang Dynasty used old ships, but most of the soldiers and generals lived in the neighboring prefectures for generations. Although they were inevitably extorted by the passing business travelers, they often left some room."

Chen De nodded silently. At this time, the small boat of Nan Tang had already leaned on the heavy merchant ship with its hull. Several soldiers skillfully put the hook rope on the side of the ship, and then climbed up quickly. Liu Jing took the lead and smiled and greeted the old men, while stuffing a copper coin to each army. Several soldiers collected the money and roughly checked the inside and outside of the cabin. Then, they waved the short knife in their hands and asked the boatman to drive the merchant ship to lean towards the fleet of the Nan Tang Navy.

Several merchants were picked out and brought to the tall building boat in the middle, Chen De was among them. He winked at Xin Gu who was eager to try behind him, followed Liu Jing and climbed up the rope ladder thrown on the boat.

As soon as he stood firm at the bow of the ship, Chen De couldn't help feeling chill. Several unarmed merchants surrounded dozens of soldiers with tiger backs and bear waists as if they were facing a great enemy. Each merchant, including Chen De, was searched carefully. In addition to Chen De, the others were also asked to untie the buns, and the searched soldiers checked whether there were any powerful tools in their hair.

After the search was completed, several merchants were pushed into the upper cabin of the building ship. After Liu Jingmai walked in, he suddenly felt the bright light shining. When he came to this era, Chen De had already become accustomed to the dark nights that were much purer than modern times. He suddenly walked into the brightly lit room, and his eyes could not help but squint. He just saw that there were many gorgeously dressed officials sitting around the room. These people looked at the merchants brought in with a condescending look.

Before he could take a closer look, Chen De's back head was pressed down by the soldiers behind him, and he was forced to lower his head. He was holding back his anger when he suddenly heard a man whispering: "Be kind to you, since these people are duty vendors, there is no need to use force." The soldiers sued and retreated.

Chen De raised his head again before he saw clearly the man on the upper head was wearing a black-bottomed yellow-patterned brocade robe, with a round face and long beards. His hands were white and his fingers were slender. His left hand seemed to be pinching a Buddha seal. The man didn't speak, but only looked at Chen De, who seemed to be ignoring his way with interest.

A young man in blue shirt and cloth stood beside the man in the middle holding a dark flute, with a calm expression on his face, and was also looking at Chen De. On the right side was an old man in purple robe, with a steep face and a hard beard on his chin and a strong beard, which made him look like a needle, showing a sense of being arrogant without anger. At the bottom of him was a middle-aged man with a kind face, wearing a red robe, with deep bags of eyes and three long beards, which looked like a private school teacher in a costume drama. The two sitting down were a little younger, wearing green robe and blue square scarfs, all holding airs, looking at the several businessmen standing in the hall with a solemn expression.

A middle-aged man with a national face sitting on the left was squinting his eyes and looking at Chen De. He was wearing a wide red burqa, with fine black iron scales exposed in the middle of his open collar. A bright iron piece as a mirror appeared to protect the vital points of the heart and lungs, and a wide tiger-patterned jade belt was tied with his waist. At the bottom, he sat a middle-aged general who was also wearing a red robe. His skin was slightly dark and his waist was tied with a fish-patterned leather belt. His face looked a little depressed, as if he was a little distracted.

Yan looked like Yan. He sat down at the lower head with a general with a fish-patterned leather belt, wearing red-bottomed black-patterned rhinoceros armor, with a deep and respectful expression. He always paid attention to the movements of the commander sitting on the upper head with the corner of his eyes. Further down was a young general with a fist-sized look. There was a fist-sized scar on his left cheek, which made his face look a bit terrifying. Seeing that Chen De couldn't help but look at the officials in the hall, he couldn't help but shout: "Bold untouchables, spy on randomly, be careful of your dog's eyes."

Hearing the ill words from his subordinates, the man in purple robe frowned slightly in the middle, and looked at the old man in purple robe beside him with an inquiring look. The old man in purple robe signaled the general opposite to him with a depressed expression to ask. The man raised his hand to silence the general below, and then asked: "Where are you merchants from where are you? What business are you doing when you travel around the world?"

Before Chen De could speak, Liu Jing took the lead and said, "Report to General, dear masters, Xiaomin is from Jiangling. He travels to the river all year round and sells more Jiangnan tea to Sichuan for silver and money." After he finished speaking, everyone in the hall did not comment, so the merchants stated their hometown and the materials they were trafficking one by one. It was Chen De's turn, and he bowed and said, "Xiaomin, a native of Chengdu Prefecture, went to the river this time, and wanted to sell some incense medicine to Jiangnan."

After Chen De finished speaking, before the general could speak, the man in the hall said "Oh" and sighed: "It was actually selling incense medicine. After the Song people robbed, the Shu people could still enjoy the glory so peacefully." There was a hint of emotion in his expression.

"Otherwise," Chen De continued: "Since the Song people entered Shu, the treasury was all in Kaifeng, and officials were particularly deemed to be enough for the officials to scrape the ground three feet. How could ordinary people in Shu bear incense and medicine?"

"Oh? Then who are you selling with?"

"Recently, all industries in Shu have declined, only Qin Tower, Chu Lane, and water pavilions are full of orioles dancing, so the small vendors do not have to worry about where to go." Chen De replied, thinking clearly that the more in this kind of war-torn era, people often believe that there is wine and drunkenness today, and the demand for luxury goods such as incense and medicine is getting stronger and stronger. The officials are not very familiar with these special goods, so they are easy to get away with it.

"Ah?" The man in the hall was silent for a while after hearing this, and then sighed: "It's really a business woman who doesn't know the hatred of the country, and she still sings across the river." Everyone was silent.

"Otherwise." Chen De said as soon as he said something, he immediately regretted that he wanted to slap himself in both mouths. After hearing this sentence, he remembered some comments he often saw in later generations. After answering the question successfully, he felt relaxed, so he started talking casually.

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, the few people sitting on the left and right shouted angrily: "Bold." But the middle-aged man in the hall waved his hand and said: "You are not like an ordinary peddler. Tell me, what's wrong?"

Chen De hurriedly said, "The common people are abrupt, I hope all the adults will forgive me."

The scar-faced general who was the last in the left head scolded: "I told you to tell me, I'm so brave just now, why are you retracted and become a turtle?"

Chen De could only say: "Although Shu is known as wealthy, the rich are a thousand hectares of land, and the poor are not allowed to live in a place. Since the Song army entered Shu, most of the prefectures and counties have been destroyed. Originally, the wealthy households in Shu were confiscated, and more of the people sold their children to seek food and clothing. If those daughters entered the brothel, they could survive if they forced to smile and please the benefactors, and if they were slightly clear, they would suffer from flesh and blood, and if they were sold as prostitutes, they would probably not live for a few months." At this point, Chen De paused a little and glanced at the person above, and saw that his eyebrows were deep and frowned, with a look of empathy, and then continued: "So, the common people think that the broken family and country is the responsibility of a man and a man, and women and children suffer most of them, so there is no need to blame him."

"Yes," the man in the first place nodded slightly, looked at Chen De with a hint of gentle expression, and asked again: "You are very good at speaking, are there anything else to say?"

Chen De hurriedly bowed and said, "Xiaomin also expressed his feelings. When he was in Chengdu, he heard someone recite a poem by Mrs. Huarui. He dared not to be tainted by all the adults."

"Oh? I didn't expect that I would meet a gentleman today. Come and tell me." The man in the middle became excited when he heard the poem, and the sadness in his expression just now faded a lot.

Chen De did not dare to look up and said slowly: "The king raised a flag at the top of the city, how can I know that I am in the deep palace? Fourteen thousand people were lifted out of their armor together, and none of them were men."

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