Chapter 10 Unforgettable War 3

  On the fifth day of August, the staff and logistics officers of the proclamation envoy's headquarters stayed behind in the northern military camp, and Zhao Xingde was among them. He missed the grand scene of the troops from Hebei welcoming Prince Wei, the crown prince. Because the management of the logistics camp was slightly relaxed, the staff of the headquarters made an appointment to go to the women's camp for a drink at noon, which allowed Zhao Xingde to catch a glimpse of Li Hongyu. Tong Guan's attitude towards Zhao Xingde was quite puzzling, and most of the staff in the proclamation envoy's headquarters did not understand the situation and did not dare to offend him casually. When they arrived at the women's camp, Zhao Xingde ordered Li Hongyu to serve wine, and no one competed with him for it.

  "Mr. Zhao." Li Hongyu poured a cup of wine for Zhao Xingde with her head down, she had already learned about Zhao Xingde's identity from Li Shishi, if not for having long since taken a liking to the rough Han Shizhong, someone like Xingde would be a good choice for a courtesan looking to change her ways.

  Zhao Xingde smiled and took the wine cup, drinking it in one gulp. He asked in a low voice: "Where is your hometown, miss? What was your original surname? Was Hongyu the name given by your parents?"

  Li Hongyu was taken aback, furrowed her brow and pondered for a moment before saying: "I was sold to Gong Lou as a child, my surname was originally Liang according to the sale contract. The older sisters in the building told me that the human trafficker who sold me to Gong Lou came from Huai Bei, but I don't remember anything else."

  "This will do." He also stopped talking, only comforting Li Hongyu not to worry about the future. With Han Shizhong running around outside, there will be a day when the clouds will clear and the fog will disperse.

  Zhao Xingde secretly thought that although the fate of these two people was slim, it was as if they were connected by an invisible thread. The world's momentum had already changed so much, during the Xuanhe era of the Great Song Dynasty, people said that treacherous officials dominated the court, and the national situation was like a flower inlaid with brocade, but in the end, it was still a peaceful and prosperous world, and there were also three major camps guarding the iron bucket mountains. Ten years later, would the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty invade again, bringing about another Jingkang disaster?

  Just as he was lost in thought, a participant named Zong Bao stumbled over to the table, reeking of alcohol, and boomed out in laughter: "Come on, I'll toast the famous scholar with a cup of wine!" As he approached, he suddenly seemed to lose his footing and tumbled onto Zhao Xingde's shoulder. Xingde was startled, and just as he was about to help him up, he heard a tiny voice like a mosquito buzzing in his ear: "If you want to return to the capital safely, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Four Seas Building." Xingde was still unclear what it meant, but Zong Bao had already struggled to his feet, holding up an empty cup and laughing drunkenly: "Good wine! Good wine!" The other officials all jeered at him for his poor capacity for liquor.

  Zhao Xingde watched as the man stumbled back to his seat, feeling puzzled and uneasy. The imperial wine that was meant to reward the troops of Hebei had lost its flavor in his mouth. After entering the city, he asked around and found out that the Four Seas Tower was the most bustling tavern within the walls of the Daming Prefecture. He thought about it for a while and finally decided to attend the gathering. When he reported his name, the waiter immediately led him up to the fourth floor's Qi Chu Pavilion. A wave of tea fragrance wafted over, and beside an exquisite small red clay teapot, a slender gentleman was holding a cup of clear tea, gazing out the window at the bustling streets below. Upon hearing footsteps, he lifted his head, gave Zhao Xingde a faint smile, and gestured for him to sit down across from him.

  "General Shen Yun has entrusted me to bring you back to Bianjing unharmed." Wang Yan poured tea into a cup with one hand, while supporting the wide sleeve of his robe with the other. Zhao Xingde followed suit, lifting the cup to his nose for a sniff before downing the scalding hot tea in one gulp. He closed his eyes, savoring the aroma as it wafted up from the cup, feeling invigorated and refreshed all over. Only after a moment did he open his eyes again, exclaiming: "Good tea!"

  Wang Yan saw Xing De's calm demeanor and praised, "In the great camp of Hebei, it's rare to meet someone like you who understands the way of tea." After drinking a cup himself, he slowly said, "I am Wang Yan, the military governor of Hebei and the official in charge of the Imperial City Guard and the Jinwei Garrison of Hebei." The Imperial City Guard and the Jinwei Garrison were unfamiliar terms to ordinary people, but Zhao Xing De had learned something about the Imperial City Guard from Song An. Upon hearing this, he didn't show much surprise, only raising his cup to toast, "I am Zhao Xing De, a humble scholar who has rendered service to the Hebei army. I hope you will take care of me, sir." The name Wang Yan seemed vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't recall where he had heard it before.

  Wang Yanwei smiled and said, "No need to be polite, I have been friends with Chong Bu for many years, and I also have a few connections with your respected father Zhao Shilang. I can be considered your elder. Without the care of Shen Daren, you wouldn't have been sent to Hebei to suffer at the hands of others." Next, Wang Yan explained to Zhao Xingde that as the top student of Taixue University, he was sent to the front lines in Hebei without being assigned an official position, clearly someone was making things difficult for him. However, Shen Yun, the officer in charge of the Imperial City, understood that the imperial court had intentions to cultivate Xingde, so he hinted to Wang Yan to take care of Xingde during his time in Hebei and not let him be harmed.

  Liang Shizhong, Tong Guan and Shen Yun were all eunuchs by origin, so they couldn't help but have some jealousy towards each other. Chancellor Cai Jing and Deputy Chancellor Zhao Zhi recommended Tong Guan to take charge of the Hebei military camp, while Shen Yun insisted on protecting this young man who was suppressed by the two chancellors. If Tong Guan had malicious intentions, the Imperial City Guard would at least have a handle to use against him in the future. However, Wang Yan, the commander-in-chief of the Jinwei Prefecture and Hebei Province, happened to be an old acquaintance of Zhao Xiang's family, so he took advantage of the situation to settle the matter. The affairs of the Jinwei Prefecture were extremely complicated, and it was possible to delay for a day or two, or even half a year, as long as Tong Guan didn't rush him. Wang Yan planned to bring Zhao Xiang back to Bianjing personally after a year.

  As he came out of the Four Seas Building, the evening wind blew, carrying a strong and pungent smell of pickled vegetables. The sound of hammering echoed throughout the city from the ironwork shops. Zhao Xiangde looked back at the brightly lit and majestic Four Seas Building, which stood out among the surrounding houses that were mostly only one or two stories high, with many simple shacks built along the streets. The dark streets had no lanterns, and people relied on the faint light coming from the windows of each household to find their way. Even the road in front of the Daming Mansion was uneven and pockmarked, with foul-smelling ditches everywhere, and a strong stench of urine emanated from the walls in the alleys.

  The mansion is also a famous city, looking at the streets with few pedestrians, and the prosperous Bianjing, the difference cannot be measured in miles. No wonder officials are nostalgic for the capital and do not want to serve as officials elsewhere. Zhao Xingde shook his head, although he had lived in Bianjing for a short time, but also felt an unforgettable nostalgia for that prosperous metropolis.

  "The bookworm has finally returned, if he's late again, don't say that Old Han didn't take good care of you."

  As soon as Zhao Xingde lifted the door curtain of his tent, he smelled a pungent smell of liquor, "High-degree white spirit?" Zhao Xingde was somewhat surprised to think of this familiar smell, and when he looked up, he saw Han Shizhong and several other military officers sitting around in the house, with a pot of fragrant meat dishes on the charcoal fire in the middle, and each person had a wine jug in front of them.

  Han Shizhong introduced the officers present to Zhao Xingde, including Zhou Dingchen, the officer in charge of distributing military supplies for the Northern Expedition Army, Xu Wei, the commander of the First Cavalry Regiment, Yuan Guangfu, the commander of the Second Cloud Rider Regiment of the Hebei Grand Camp, and Pei Yan, the deputy commander.

  "This is Han's brother, Zhao Xingde." Han Shizhong stretched out his hand with a pleased expression, "Unlike Han who only recognizes a few characters, Xingde is a scholar and the top scorer of the imperial examination in the capital, not much different from the champion. After this battle in Hebei, the government will entrust him with important tasks."

  "General Han is being too kind!" Zhao Xingde hastily stood up to thank him. He usually stayed in Tong Guan's command center, surrounded by cunning officials and oily bureaucrats, and had little contact with these military officers who actually commanded troops. These military officers, although rough in appearance, never spoke falsely, and when they heard that Zhao Xingde was the top scholar from the Imperial Academy in the capital, they were all impressed and raised their cups to toast him. After all, this dynasty valued literature over martial arts, and the paths of scholars and warriors were different. Even a military general who had spent his life fighting on the battlefield couldn't compare to Zhao Xingde's achievement as the top scholar with a single article.

  At their first meeting, Zhao Xun De naturally drank until the cup was dry. When the wine was warm and his ears were hot, Han Shizhong smacked his lips and said: "What's the name of this good strong wine?"

  "Tokyo is great, but there are a few things that can't compare to our Hebei, and this 'jiu han' is one of them." Yuan Guangfu held up his wine bowl, sniffing the aroma while smiling.

  "Good name," Zhao Xingde praised, with a cup of wine down the throat, the feeling of burning from the throat to the stomach had not been experienced for a long time, "Sweat of fine wine."

  "Ah, Prince Zhao's refined taste," said Yuan Guangfu with a subtle smile. "The name 'wine sweat' comes from the fact that it is obtained by repeatedly steaming and condensing the wine vapor. Usually, ten liters of good wine can only produce one liter of such fine wine."

  Zhao Xingde was taken aback, and the faces of several generals of the Northern Garrison Army stiffened. This liquor, brewed multiple times to achieve a high degree of fermentation, was popular in Liao and Xia, but because it wasted too much grain, its production was strictly prohibited in the Central Plains. The summer country produced grape wine that had been distilled, known as "blood sweat", just like the precious horse "sweat blood", only wealthy and noble families could taste it.

  Yuan Guangfu, seeing the situation, took a sip of wine and smiled: "Don't worry, everyone. This is Hebei's Da Ying, where private wine is sold openly on the streets of Daming Prefecture, and even the officials in charge of monitoring wine are doing business with Liao Guo."

  "This privately sold wine from Hebei is actually a product of Liao?" Zhao Xingde asked in surprise, "Is the food supply of the Liao people already so abundant?"

  "No," Pei Yan seemed to be a scholar who had put down his pen and taken up arms, putting down his wine bowl and sighing, "In the Southern Capital of Liao State, many Han slaves are used for farming, these slaves eat less grain than dogs, so the Khitan nobles have a huge surplus of grain every year, which is inconvenient to store and not very profitable to sell on long journeys. Brewing wine is beneficial for both storage and sales. I heard that the five countries, Mongolia, Jurchen and other northern tribes all love this stuff."

  "Ah, I see," Zhao Xingde smacked his lips, as if he had tasted a bit of salty flavor, and his interest in drinking also dissipated by half. The several generals from the Zhenbei Army and Hebei Xingying quickly abandoned Xingde and started competing with each other to drink more.

  As the saying goes, "wine leads to truth," Yuan Guangfu and Pei Yan had originally intended to make connections with the generals of the Northern Garrison. They gradually introduced various ways to use the military's door-to-door services in Hebei Province. In addition to smuggling high-quality private liquor from Liao State, they could also smuggle private salt from Liao State, using the labor force of the military households to produce extremely salty pickled vegetables and cured meats, which could replace edible salt. Because the inland provinces implemented a salt monopoly, the price of salt was extremely high, so this business of pickled vegetables and cured meats naturally made a fortune. Moreover, Liao State and the grasslands were rich in cattle and sheep, but the tanning and processing of leather were rough and crude. Many people in the Hebei military camp also smuggled raw and processed leather from Liao State and hired military households to process it carefully. These private liquor, pickled vegetables, and leather all used the transportation team of the courier station to transport them to various places. After slightly greasing the palms of the officials, no one dared to come looking for trouble.

  In the end, except for Zhao Xingde, all the others got drunk and fell asleep in Zhao Xingde's room. The floor was cold, so Zhao Xingde helped them lie down on the kang.

  "Xijing borders Xia State, with many wealthy people. The Xijing market sells sugar, green salt, white stacked fabric, wine, carriages and horses, and all sorts of rare and precious items, making a huge profit. Our Hebei Dazhen is not as good as above, but better than below. Although it's not as good as Xijing, it's still better than the Hedong market." Yuan Guangfu stuttered. Han Shizhong was dozing off, mumbling in his sleep, "Good brothers, get rich, get rich, let's get rich together!"