Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 178: People's Livelihoods Are in Decline and Eating Dust

Of course, wearing women's clothing will not end with "it smells really good".

Even in the early Southern Song Dynasty, a period of relatively open culture and thought, wearing women's clothing could be considered the ultimate humiliation for a man.

Don't say that this is ideological confinement. Zhu Xi, who is just over 30 years old this year, is only famous for his advocacy of war, but not a master of Neo-Confucianism. The era when a girl loses her chastity after taking a piece of cake is still far away.

Unless there is something more important than dignity, a normal man will never wear women's clothes.

Of course, from this we can see that Sima Yi was really a ruthless person, and he was really afraid of Zhuge Liang.

Without further ado, although Zhang Baiyu would rather die than wear women's clothes, he is indispensable for this job.

A moment later, Liu Huai entrusted all the affairs of the camp to Liang Pan, the deputy commander of the armored cavalry. Then, together with Zhang Baiyu, he put on chain mail and a conical hat, and rode out of the camp on two horses to the north, galloping along the wide Yishui River.

Although this fifty-mile-long hilly area of Mengshan is very dangerous for the army, for four cavalrymen riding on galloping war horses, this distance is really not worth mentioning.

But after about an hour, when the sun was about to set, the four of them saw a wide expanse in front of them. A city with a wall about ten and a half feet high stood to the west of Yishui.

It is Yishui County.

Because Mengshan blocked the Yishui River, it turned here. Under the erosion of the river, the river embankment had broken countless times in the past, and finally washed out a diamond-shaped plain about fifty miles wide and seventy or eighty miles long in a hilly area.

Yishui County is located in the center of this diamond-shaped plain and is surrounded by Yishui on both sides.

Liu Huai stood on a gentle slope for a long time, observing the surrounding environment, trying to find any clues that troops had been stationed there.

However, let alone military camps, there was no sign of large-scale military activity.

The reason why Liu Huai was able to be sure of this was very simple. It was the time when the autumn harvest had just passed. Although most of the crops in the fields had been harvested and it had rained, there were still women and children picking up fallen grains and beans in the fields.

If there really were regular Jin troops here, there would definitely be cavalry scouts coming and going, so why would these women and children be working outside so carelessly?
Never mind talking about military discipline. These days, regardless of whether the military discipline is good or bad, the people are afraid of the army.

Moreover, how could the Jin army’s military discipline be so flawless?
What if the Jin army did not send out cavalry to grasp the surrounding situation?

That can only mean that either the Jin army is so weak that its control over the surrounding areas is almost zero; or someone is collecting intelligence about the surrounding areas for the Jin army.

Who is this person?

Is he the magistrate of Yishui County?

Or is it Zhu Tianshou Zhu Sanlang?

Liu Huai put his doubts in his heart and walked slowly along the country dirt road with the three knights.

Their destination was naturally not Yishui County. The four strong knights were too conspicuous. If there was some rumor in the city, it was not impossible to surround and kill them directly.

Therefore, Liu Huai and others headed towards what Shandong had the most - the manors of the powerful.

Of course, they didn't dare to enter the manors of the powerful, but they were more willing to get some information from the tenants and farmers.

A knight named Chen Wenben galloped up to a lone farmer and lifted him onto his horse. Before the farmer could even utter a word, the four of them galloped away.

The farmer who was watching this scene from afar didn't dare to say anything. He just trembled and lowered his head and continued to work. He sighed in his heart and wondered what tricks the young men in the city were playing. He felt sorry for the honest man Zhao Ba.

When they reached a secluded place, Chen Wenben put the farmer down. Before the farmer could kneel down and beg for mercy, a small bag of wheat and a few strings of copper coins were stuffed into his arms.

"Our husband is in a good mood today, so he's giving you a reward." Chen Wenben pointed at Zhang Baiyu behind him and said, "Answer whatever I ask you. If you answer well, there's a two-dollar reward. First, what's your name?"

Liu Huai was behind several people, with the brim of his big hat pulled down, covering most of his face, and he said nothing.

Because he had shown his face before Zhu Tianshou, he was afraid of running into those familiar black-clad warriors, so he could only hide his head and tail. The farmer held the bag of wheat and looked at the strings of copper coins. His surprise turned into joy, and he smiled and said, "My name is Zhao Ba, and I am a tenant of Master Zhu San. Whatever the lord wants to ask, I will know it and I will not hide it."

Chen Wenben smiled and pointed at Zhao Ba with his whip, looking like a dandy and lackey. "You're quite straightforward, sir. Which piece of land did you rent and farm?"

Zhao Ba's smile froze. "This is the piece of land that you gentlemen brought me to. I'm hunting some field mice..."

Chen Wenben shook his head. "Alas, field mice are only delicious when they're fat, but I'm also afraid they'll be too fat. Doesn't that mean they're wasting a lot of food? It's really a dilemma."

Zhao Ba instantly felt like he had found a close friend: "Exactly what you said, sir..."

Seeing that Zhao Ba was no longer nervous, Chen Wenben pointed to a large manor in the northwest and asked, "Do you usually live there?"

Zhao Ba continued to smile apologetically, "How can I live in Zhujiazhuang? That place is occupied by the most trusted figures in Mr. Zhu's family. How can a poor man like me live there?"

At the end of his speech, Zhao Ba looked at the manor with a longing look on his face.

Liu Huai's heart moved.

Why couldn't even the tenants of Zhujiazhuang live there? If the purpose wasn't to protect themselves from thieves, the people of Shandong were not fools, so why would they form a manor and find a master for themselves?

Thinking of this, Liu Huai pinched his throat and said immediately: "That's not right. That's not Zhujiazhuang. We already encountered a Zhujiazhuang when we came from the north. Can it split into two?"

Zhao Ba was slightly wary when he heard that this group of distinguished guests were from outsiders. However, looking at the small bag of wheat and two strings of copper coins in his arms, and thinking of his blind mother and two hungry children, he felt that since this was a well-known fact, it wouldn't matter if he told it to strangers. So he smiled and said, "Sir, you're joking. Zhujiazhuang can't have multiple branches, but who says there's only one Zhujiazhuang? There are five Zhujiazhuangs in Yishui County. I was referring to West Zhuzhuang, and the one to the north is Big Zhuzhuang."

"Are all the owners of the manor Zhu Sanlang?"

Zhao Ba shuddered, suddenly remembering that these distinguished people might be acquaintances of Zhu Tianshou, or even that they were his guests. He immediately knelt and kowtowed, "It's Mr. Zhu San."

With this sudden bow, Zhao Ba not only threw the wheat bag and two hundred yuan in his arms to the ground, but also the bulging rag bag on his side fell apart, and the round objects fell to the ground.

Liu Huai originally thought that these were field mice killed by Zhao Ba, but when he looked closely, he found that they were all clumps of feces, and he didn't know whether they were donkey dung or horse dung.

“Why are you carrying so much shit?”

Liu Huai asked in a hoarse voice.

Zhao Ba looked up, but could only see Chen Wenben, not the person asking the question. He felt embarrassed for a moment, but dared not answer: "It's horse manure. Horse manure can be fermented to fertilize the fields, and... and..."

Liu Huai nodded at Chen Wenben who was looking back, and Chen Wenben threw two strings of money in front of Zhao Ba.

Zhao Ba, on the other hand, refused to take the money. His rough, dark face turned almost purple. “Gentlemen… horses have straight intestines. They don’t digest everything they eat. They always poop out some… there are beans in horse manure… beans you can eat.”

After saying that, Zhao Ba actually broke open a piece of wet horse manure, took out half a bean from it and held it high.

The two officers and two guards of the Loyal Army were suddenly horrified, and their faces turned as dark as black water.

After a moment, Liu Huaiqiang suppressed his extreme anger and laughed out loud, "You bastard, you actually eat shit, hahahaha. Chen Liulang, give him another bag of wheat, hahahaha, you actually eat shit... How funny..."

The other three people also knew the situation and forced themselves to laugh, but their acting skills were not good and their laughter sounded like weird cries.

Chen Wenben threw another small bag of wheat in front of Zhao Ba, then pressed down the brim of his hat. For a moment, he didn't dare to look at Zhao Ba who was kneeling in front of him.

The next moment, the four knights who had experienced many battles and were not afraid of swords and seas of fire flew away with strange laughter, as if they had encountered something terrifying.

It was not until the sound of horse hooves gradually faded that Zhao Ba tremblingly got up from the ground. He first stuffed a few strings of money into his arms, then picked up two small bags of wheat. However, after looking at the pile of horse manure, he was reluctant to leave. He spread out the rag bag, picked up the horse manure one by one and put them away.

For some reason, Zhao Ba suddenly burst into tears. He wiped his tears a few times but found that they were not clean. He could only cover his face with his hands covered with horse manure, and burst into tears for a while.

(End of this chapter)