Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 210 Private Room

Shao Shuyi sat in a private room on the second floor, near the railing. To his left was Ge Daji, and to his right was He Shuo. Zhou Xiaogong, Han De, and Chen Zi were seated in order. On the table were four plates of fine fruit, two jugs of yellow wine, and a plate of neatly sliced ​​goose feet.

He felt a little nervous.

When I came in, I saw that group of people from afar. It was Lu Zhonghe, the husband of Madam Shen and a member of the Lu family in Suzhou. Behind him were several young men wearing dark blue robes. The one in the lead was Zhang Qiujiao, a native of Taicang. His family owned a parlor. I had met him at a social gathering last year.

If he were recognized, his secretive nature would be exposed to the officials.

What's more troublesome is that he hosted the event today precisely to make these officials think that he was nothing more than a vulgar person who indulged in drinking and women, had no great ambitions, and only knew how to live a life of pleasure and debauchery.

Thinking of this, he made an excuse to leave for a while, whispered something to his underlings who had followed him in the corridor, and then smiled as he went inside and sat down. "Cao She just sat down and then got up to change his clothes. I'm afraid he won't be able to subdue a woman." Ge Daji, who now had a closer relationship with Shao Shuyi, had selectively forgotten about the fact that Shao Shuyi was being used against him, and teased him.

Shao Shuyi smiled slightly and said, "I came in a hurry, please forgive me."

He Shuo, the clerk of the military office, shook his head slightly and said, "Cao She is young and strong, what nonsense are you talking about, Ge Sanlang?" After speaking, he looked at Shao Shuyi and laughed, "Don't pay attention to Cao She. I've known this man for twenty years. When he meets a woman, he's all talk and no action."

"He Agou, you're making fun of me again," Ge Daji laughed. "Cao She, I don't like this man. If he asks you to send men to arrest thieves in the future, just ignore him."

He Shuo was displeased and said, "Ge Daji, this isn't a war. Every time the military corps transfers personnel, it's to clean up the messes for your criminal investigation department. How dare you say that?" Ge Daji smiled but remained silent.

Recently, he has been receiving a lot of good news. After spending 300 ingots, his connections are almost complete, and it is basically confirmed that he will succeed as the state prosecutor's clerk. He can take office by the end of June at the latest. He feels that his level is different from his old colleagues like He Shuo, so he is too lazy to argue.

During the performance, the female lead was singing, "For the sake of my half-life of flowers, moon, wine, and poetry, I have given away that seven-foot beam of timber," when she suddenly turned around and smiled at the private room.

Ge Daji picked up a ginkgo nut and gently tapped it on the table: "Okay!"

Shao Shuyi's heart skipped a beat, and he turned to look at the doorway.

Yu Yuan understood and ran over.

"Reward Wang Yanyan with one ingot of paper money, just for this, given by Clerk Ge of the Criminal Division," Shao Shuyi instructed.

"Brother, her name is Guan Yanyan," Yu Yuan reminded him.

Shao Shuyi laughed and scolded, "Who cares what she's called? I'll call her Wang Yanyan. Does she dare not respond? Go, after you deliver it, hand it to her maid and tell her to pay attention when she sings it a second time."

Yu Yuan accepted the order and left.

Ge Daji felt a surge of satisfaction and looked at Shao Shuyi, saying, "Cao She is truly a remarkable man. Well then, if He Agou comes to you in the future, help him if you can. They're just some bandits from Huai, you should be able to take them down, right?"

It seemed a bit warm inside the private room. Shao Shuyi rolled up his sleeves, revealing his muscular forearms, and said, "It's no big deal."

He Shuo, listening from the side, couldn't help but remind him, "Cao She, don't be careless. Those eight Huai bandits who broke into Fushan Port a while ago were very fierce. We conscripted thousands of archers and able-bodied men from Changshu, Kunshan, and Suzhou, along with a few garrison troops as guides, setting up ambushes and blocking them from all sides, but we still couldn't take them down. The reason was that they were too brave during their desperate charge, which easily caused the government troops to collapse. If you encounter them, you must not be careless." "Oh?" Shao Shuyi was somewhat surprised. The government troops are so weak? I'm going to lose my temper.

Inspector Chen Zi of Chengjiang interjected, "Cao She, do not be careless. Last month, Jiangyin Prefecture was not very peaceful. Several bandits from Huaixi sneaked in and were intercepted outside Chengjiang Gate. They were extremely fierce and drew their swords to resist arrest. After a fierce battle, our clerks were killed and five archers were killed or wounded. We only managed to kill one bandit and capture one. The rest of them dispersed."

At this point, Chen Zi sighed slightly and said, "The Chengjiang Patrol Inspectorate was originally quite capable. Last year, they arrested salt smugglers from Tongzhou, and this year they intercepted bandits from Huaixi. They suffered many casualties and have already greatly weakened their strength."

"Where in Huaixi?" Shao Shuyi asked.

Gwangju.

"Holy crap, this is the real old Huaihe River region!" Shao Shuyi exclaimed in surprise.

During the Tang Dynasty, the three prefectures of Shen, Guang, and Cai (present-day Xinyang, Gushi, and Runan in Henan Province) were divided and ruled for half a century. Finally, Li Su entered Cai Prefecture on a snowy night, captured the military governor Wu Yuanji, and ended the rebellion.

Compared to these old Huaixi, the prefectures of Lu, Shou, Hao, and Si under the jurisdiction of Huainan Town in the east were simply targets of brutal beatings, suffering repeated defeats and being plundered every few days.

During the Song Dynasty, Guang Prefecture, the core of Huaixi, was merged with Haozhou and Luzhou in Huainan to form Huainan West Circuit, commonly known as "Huaiyou," which was essentially a combination of the two regions.

This is an artificially created administrative region, which has given some of the historical Huainan prefectures and counties the name Huaixi. But Shao Shuyi has read history books, so he naturally knows where the real Huaixi is. If he has the ability in the future, he must go to Shen Guangcai's old territory to recruit some men.

This region seems to be the place where Chahan Temur rose to power in history. He was a really fierce man, and his army was also capable of fighting. If he hadn't been so arrogant and assassinated, the situation in the world would have been very different.

Shao Shuyi vaguely felt that if things really came to a point where they had to fight for the world, Chahan Temur might be the biggest rival.

Because of the butterfly effect, this man might not necessarily be assassinated. If he lives, the army will certainly not be in the demoralized and disorganized state it was when it came into Wang Baobao's hands. The possibility of unifying the north is very high, unless Emperor Yuan Shundi intervenes...

"Guangzhou thieves?" he said, feigning surprise. "Sir Chen, why don't you hand over the captured thieves to me? I'll ask them who their accomplices are." Chen Zi glanced at him in surprise and shook his head. "If it were two days earlier, it wouldn't have mattered if I handed them over to you. At worst, I could just say they died from torture. But now Judge Ma has his eye on them and wants to interrogate them personally, so I can't give them to you."

"It's alright." Shao Shuyi smiled and said, "If the Huai bandits invade the south in the future and the government finds it troublesome, just give them a call." Chen Zi and He Shuo exchanged a glance and nodded in satisfaction.

This Cao She was sensible; he knew he had obligations, instead of just blindly smuggling salt for money and ignoring everything else—that would be courting death. Just then, the owner of Furong Tower hurried upstairs with a servant. Upon seeing Shao Shuyi, he nodded slightly, then turned to Ge Daji and smiled, "Ge Sili—oh no, in a few days I'll probably be called Ge Tikong—this cup is to congratulate you on your promotion!"

He took the wine cup from the servant, poured the wine himself, and then drank it all in one gulp.

Ge Daji laughed and said, "That was money Cao gave away just now. What a generous gesture! Enough for that actor to perform for several days, right?"

Shao Shuyi laughed heartily and said, "Master Ge, you jest. I may not have much else, but I'm certainly good with money. What is money these days? You can't take it with you when you die; it's only when you spend it that it's truly yours!"

Ge Daji and the others burst into laughter.

Just then, the gongs, drums, and strings began to play again, and the female lead started singing that song once more.

Before anything even started happening in the private room, the young men in the first row began to complain.

Zhang Qiujiao kept looking up at the private room upstairs, but unfortunately she couldn't see anything.

Lu Zhonghe tugged at him and whispered a few words. Several young masters shook their heads and laughed, looking up at the building as if they were discussing which nouveau riche was so vulgar that he thought he could win a beauty's smile just by throwing money at her.

Wrong, completely wrong! As the saying goes, girls love handsome men. Believe it or not, as he walks by waving his folding fan, with his dashing appearance and his wealth of knowledge, he can win a girl's heart in an instant and make her his lover.

Huh? What a coincidence! The play "Yu Hu Chun" tells the story of Li Sulan and Yu Hu Sheng Li Bin falling in love at first sight in the suburbs of Jiaxing. During this time, she was pursued by the wealthy merchant Shen Heizi with "thirty cartloads of cashmere and silk". The madam pressed her relentlessly, so Li Sulan shaved her head to show her determination and fought back fiercely. In the end, she married Yu Hu Sheng. Yu Hu Sheng also attracted the attention of the court with his ten-thousand-word long policy and was granted the position of Assistant Magistrate of Jiaxing Road.

"So fitting for the occasion! So fitting for the occasion!" The group was extremely pleased with themselves.

Just then, the female lead Guan Yanyan sang, "Jade Pot Spring, with crabapple blossoms in her hair, he and I will be husband and wife forever." Zhang Qiujiao, Lu Zhonghe, and others followed along, shaking their heads and tapping their fingers on the table, while humming along incoherently.

Han De, who was in the private room, noticed these young men.

He was a martial artist who had often been bullied by scholars and couldn't stand this kind of behavior. He frowned and said, "Give me two ingots of silver and sing this part again."

Before the owner had left, seeing that Shao Shuyi was about to call someone to deliver money, he quickly shook his head and instructed his servant to quickly go and deliver the message.

Are you kidding me? Cao She comes to Furong Tower and has to pay money to tip the actors?

Even if you spend money, you have to return it, no matter how much it is. If one day a young master gets into a fight with Cao She and each of them gives him dozens of ingots as a reward, in the end not only will Cao She have to return the money he gave, but the young master will also have to share a portion of the money he gave him with Cao She. That's how realistic it is.

"Is General Han unhappy?" Shao Shuyi asked with a smile.

Han De laughed and said, "They're just some ignorant rich kids. They probably don't even have an official position. Why should I get angry with them? It would be beneath me." "There will be a good show later. General Han, just sit and watch." Shao Shuyi called Yu Yuan over and gave him a few instructions.

Yu Yuan looked a little embarrassed, but still accepted the order and left.

"Oh? Then I'll have to see." Han De sat up straight.

Not long after, a ruffian-looking man led a seductive woman to the entrance of Furong Tower. Even after being stopped by the guards at the gate, he continued to shout and curse: "I saw it! That scoundrel went into Furong Tower. He slept with my wife! I'll fight him to the death!"

Ge Daji overheard something and a meaningful smile appeared on his lips.

Han De then slapped his thigh and laughed loudly.

He Shuo, Chen Zi, and Zhou Xiaogong didn't care; they just thought Cao She was quite interesting and got along well with them.

The owner apologized and hurriedly went downstairs to deal with the situation.