Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 3 Lao Liu
"What's your name?"

"My name is Zhao Liu."

At this time, Zhao Huaian looked at the "simple" Guanzhong man and felt speechless.

You are not Zhao Liu, I think you are Lao Liu.

Although Zhao Huaian was taught a lesson by Lao Liu, he didn't want to do anything about it. After all, the Zhao Liu in front of him might know him, and he also needed to get enough information from this person.

Most importantly, he wanted to know where the hell we were and what era we were in.
Zhao Liu had already stood up, bent over, lowered his eyebrows and looked submissive, secretly criticizing Zhao Huaian.

"Humph, this idiot must be a deserter. The armor he's wearing is obviously made up. And look at his poor archery skills. It's a shame for his ancestors."

Zhao Liu was complaining in his heart, but suddenly he saw three Nanzhao soldiers lying on the ground.

One of them had his neck chopped off, one had his head chopped off, and the last one had his neck chopped off flatly. What kind of murder was this?
Now, Zhao Liu was unsure again and asked in a low voice:
"Good man, I wonder which city under General Huang's command you are from? You are very fierce!"

Zhao Huaian frowned when he heard this and glared at him:

"Huh? You mean you don't know me?"

Zhao Huaian may not know that he was covered in blood and full of murderous intent at the moment. His frown scared Zhao Liu so much that he knelt on the ground again.

Zhao Liu no longer had any thoughts and blurted out in one breath:

"Good man, I'm from Qishan. I work as a farmer on weekdays and play music in my spare time. Later, General Huang received an imperial decree and took office in Lizhou. He summoned a group of us from the countryside to go south with him. Because I played the suona, I joined the military band. I've never met a good man before."

Zhao Huaian said nothing. He looked at the suona that Zhao Liu took with him when he ran away, and he almost believed what he said.

But Zhao Huaian still wanted to trick this treacherous Guanzhong man.

So he put on a solemn expression, placed the bloodstained sword on Zhao Liu's shoulder, and said coldly:

"So you're a deserter?"

Zhao Liu was stunned for a moment. He was almost crying because of the smear campaign against him by the deserter.

"Hasong is the deserter? Well, I ran away with General Huang. The battlefield was in chaos at that time. Who knew the southern barbarians would come back again? The stupid Xichuan soldiers didn't arrive. We couldn't defend the river, so we had to run away."

After saying this, Zhao Liu suddenly saw the badge on Zhao Huaian's waist, then looked up and looked at Zhao Huaian's face carefully.

After just one circle, Zhao Liu was so panicked that he hadn't taken a good look at Zhao Huaian's face. But now he saw that this was Zhao Da from the Ya Army.

He was immediately overjoyed:
"My dear brother, Zhao Shun, don't you recognize me?"

At this time, Zhao Liu was so happy that he stood up directly, forgetting that there was a sword on his shoulder.

Zhao Liu grabbed Zhao Huaian's hand and said excitedly:

"Brother, what were you teasing me, Zhao Liu? I was so scared that I almost couldn't hold my pee."

Zhao Huaian coughed, put down his sword, and followed Zhao Liu's words and said:

"Zhao Liu, I was hit by a hammer on the battlefield and just crawled out from a pile of corpses. I saved my life, but I forgot a lot of things. Zhao Liu, don't blame me."

Zhao Liu felt sad after hearing this and couldn't help but curse again:
"It's all those cowardly Xichuan soldiers who made uh... no, made my brother suffer."

Zhao Huaian wanted to know more about the background of the situation, so he asked Zhao Liu to explain in detail.

Zhao Liu is a musician in the military band and usually stays by the commander's side. So although his position is low, he has a lot of gossip.

According to Zhao Liu, the Lizhou soldiers fought quite well at the beginning.

After all, the original purpose of setting up the Lizhou soldiers was to defend against Tubo in the west and Nanzhao in the south. In the entire Xichuan army sequence, their combat power was at the forefront.

The Nanzhao soldiers reached the outside of the Dadu River more than ten days ago.

At that time, Huang Jingfu, the military commander of Lizhou, led a thousand Lizhou soldiers to take the initiative to fight. They took advantage of the Nanzhao soldiers crossing the river to cut off their pontoon bridge, set up an ambush on the north bank, and finally defeated the Nanzhao soldiers.

The Nanzhao soldiers had already withdrawn, but for some unknown reason, they launched a surprise attack.

When crossing the Dadu River for the second time, the Lizhou soldiers were caught off guard and lost their river defenses.

However, Huang Jingfu had already asked for help from Chengdu, so even though he lost the river defense, he still led his troops to retreat to the garrison and wait for reinforcements.

However, the Lizhou soldiers held their ground for ten days, but still saw no sign of the Xichuan soldiers. Their food and fodder were exhausted, so they had no choice but to break out.

During the breakout, the Lizhou soldiers were caught by the pursuing Nanzhao soldiers. After half a day of fierce fighting, more than a thousand Lizhou soldiers were killed, including fifty of Huang Jingfu's guards.

In the end, only a few people followed Huang Jingfu to break out, but Zhao Liu didn't know where they went.

Zhao Huaian discovered that Zhao Liu was quite eloquent and not only explained the whole story clearly, but also added a lot of glorious deeds in the process.

What? He killed more than a dozen Nanzhao soldiers on his way out, and if he wasn't exhausted, would he have been able to let three Nanzhao soldiers commit such violence?

cant!
But Zhao Huaian did not dismantle Zhao Liutai, but instead gave him emotional value. He listened and cheered:
"Yes, yes, you are really the sixth one."

Zhao Liu couldn't tell whether the words were good or bad, he just felt that it was great to be praised by Zhao Da, who was famous in the army.

Our sixth brother, Zhao Shun, has been decided.

Speaking of Zhao Da, he was indeed a good man, but hadn't we heard that Zhao Da was an expert with both bow and sword? He wielded the sword beautifully, and none of his fellow villagers could match his skill.

But how can this bow be used like this?

Zhao Liu was still thinking when Zhao Huaian next to him coughed again. Then he asked about the current reign title and the emperor.

Zhao Liu had no answer to this question because he could not read and could not read documents.

However, he told Zhao Huaian that the new emperor had only recently been supported by the husbands in Chang'an, and the latest reign title had not yet been sent from Chang'an to Lizhou.

Speaking of this, Zhao Shun complained that this month's salary had not been paid yet, and then the damn Nanzhao barbarians came to kill them.

After hearing this, Zhao Huaian felt happy in his heart?
Why? Because Zhao Huaian concluded that this was not the Late Tang Dynasty. After all, how could there be guards in the Late Tang Dynasty who would fight for no salary?
Good, that’s great, as long as it’s not from the late Tang Dynasty.

Zhao Huaian felt relieved and felt that there was hope for the future.

Originally, he wanted to ask Zhao Shun again, but when he noticed some movement in the nearby jungle and was worried that the smell of blood would cause unnecessary trouble, he asked Zhao Shun to help him clean up the battlefield.

Not to mention, the three Nanzhao warriors were quite well-equipped. In addition to the three short swords they carried, they also had spears, swords, long swords, and two exquisite Tang horizontal swords.

In addition to these, Zhao Huaian also found three bamboo joints of rice, six pieces of taro, and a piece of black and hard dried meat from the three corpses.

Zhao Huaian couldn't smell what kind of meat it was, but he still put the dried meat into the package.

Finally, Zhao Huaian found a bamboo tube from a Nanzhao soldier, which was sealed with banana leaves and red mud.

He thought there was wine in it, and couldn't help swallowing his saliva, and quickly opened the seal.

Immediately afterwards, a strong fermentation smell rushed from Zhao Huaian's nasal cavity to the top of his head. What a strange smell.

But at this time, Zhao Huaian still comforted himself:

"It's okay. This is the craftsmanship of our ancestors. It's brewed using authentic traditional methods. In the past, you couldn't even drink it if you wanted to."

So, Zhao Huaian forced himself to take a sip.

But the next moment, Zhao Huaian's face turned blue, and he vomited out everything he drank, cursing:
"Heresy, heresy! Who ferments tea leaves and drinks them? Damn it!"

As he said that, he threw the bamboo tube in his hand away.

……

At this moment, Zhao Liu was wearing leather armor that he had just stripped off from the Nanzhao soldiers.

But even though this collar is the largest of the three, it is still too tight for this man from Guanzhong.

He looked at Zhao Da acting strangely and cursed in his heart:
"What a coward! He can't even drink tea. Looks like I have to take care of him all the way."

Complaining in his heart, Zhao Liu kept moving, picking up the sack he had just picked up from the Nanzhao soldiers and trying to pack the food into it.

But Zhao Huaian is faster than Zhao Liu.

He threw the bamboo tube and taro into the bag swiftly, and then told Zhao Liu as a matter of course:

"Sixth Brother, take the remaining leather armor, swords and spears with you. We have a long way to go."

Zhao Liu wanted to say something, but then Zhao Huaian threatened:
"Do you still want me to take you out?"

What could Zhao Liu say now? He could only lower his head to pick up his weapons and leather armor.

I, Lao Liu, am flexible and adaptable. There will always be a time when you, Zhao Da, will ask me for help. If I don’t make you obedient by then, I will not be called Lao Liu.

Meanwhile, Zhao Huaian raised his lips as he looked at Zhao Liu working with his head down.
"Humph, I can't do anything to you, Old Six."

Soon, the two men found some copper coins from the bodies of the Nanzhao soldiers, with the words "Kaiyuan Tongbao" written on them.

This information once again deepened Zhao Huaian's judgment that it was definitely not the late Tang Dynasty.

Finally, seeing that there was really nothing left to gain, the two Zhaos moved upstream along the river valley.

……

Zhao Huaian walked very easily along the way, not only because the river valley was easier to walk on, but more importantly because there was Zhao Liu with him.

You know what, this Zhao Liu is really a talented person.

He kept talking all the way, and in a very rhythmic way. It felt like he could sing a song without even using a suona, so Zhao Huaian felt particularly comfortable listening to him.

Sure enough, no matter what era, artists are good at talking.

Zhao Huaian also learned some information about himself from Zhao Liu.

At first, when Zhao Huaian saw Zhao Liu calling him a fellow villager, he thought he was also from Guanzhong, but Zhao Liu told him that he was from Shouzhou.

It seems that because he committed some crime in his hometown, he ran to Chengdu to make a living. Then he was noticed by the general who came to take office in the south and was selected to be a guard. Later, he was promoted to a guard general leading ten people.

Speaking of this, Zhao Liu gave Zhao Huaian a thumbs up and said admiringly:
"Fellow villager, you are this. Everyone under General Huang's command is from Qishan, but you are the only one from Shouchun, and you are still able to stand out like this."

In fact, Zhao Huaian also discovered that the original Zhao Da was indeed a good man with strong muscles and bones, and full of murderous intent.

In the previous battle in the valley, Zhao Huaian had not intended to kill in this way, but he subconsciously used the sword technique, aiming for lives.

In fact, Zhao Huaian was also a martial artist in his previous life. He had practiced armor and weapons, was proficient in boxing and wrestling, and he also exercised on a daily basis. He could be considered a hero among his peers.

But no matter how powerful he is, no one in peacetime can perform such a deadly move.

Not to mention killing people, even if you beat someone up, you have to check if there are any cameras nearby.

But the original person was not from Shouchun at all. He was clearly from Changsha, and he really killed people without blinking an eye.

I don't know if all warriors of this era are like this, but it can't hurt.

At this moment, seeing Zhao Liu still laughing, Zhao Huaian felt it necessary to reaffirm his authority in the small group, so he suppressed him:

"Sixth Brother, stop trying to make friends. You're from Qishan, and I'm from Shouchun. Whose hometown are we from?"

Unexpectedly, Zhao Liu grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, as if it were a matter of course:

"Zhao Da, your last name is Zhao, and mine is too. You're the eldest, and I'm the sixth. To be honest, we're closer than folks."

Okay, okay, Zhao Liu, you are such a talented person.

(End of this chapter)