Kou Ji and Xiang Minzhong discussed the issue of whether Xiang Minzhong's granddaughter would become a widow, but in the end they did not reach a conclusion.
When two people quarrel with each other, they always ignore the obstacles brought by their identities.
In front of Kou Ji, Xiang Minzhong did not have the maturity, stability, and harshness that an elder should have.
Kou Ji was not as reserved as a junior in front of Xiang Minzhong, nor did he obey Xiang Minzhong's words.
The two of them are more like a year-end friend, talking about everything when they sit together.
It was only after leaving the Song Dynasty and entering the territory of the Liao Kingdom that Xiang Minzhong broke the harmonious relationship between the two.
"There are only two places in my life where I can speak freely."
"Those two places?"
"One is a place with you, and the other is my concubine's bed..."
"..."
After Kou Ji heard Xiang Minzhong's words, he decisively left Xiang Minzhong behind and climbed onto Wang Zeng's carriage.
He would rather face Wang Zeng's dead face with Wang Zeng than face Xiang Minzhong's old face.
Although he knew that Xiang Minzhong was telling the truth, he couldn't accept Xiang Minzhong comparing him to his concubine.
After Kou Ji climbed onto Wang Zeng's carriage, Wang Zeng seemed to have started talking and kept talking.
It may be that after leaving Song Dynasty, I was freed from some constraints. I didn't need to worry about being watched by the imperial censor, and I could speak freely.
It may also be because I entered the distant lands and had many feelings.
Wang Zeng's carriage was far less luxurious than Xiang Minzhong's, and it was not as comfortable as Xiang Minzhong's carriage. There was no soft fur to cushion the buttocks, and it was very difficult to sit on the buttocks.
Kou Ji felt uncomfortable no matter how he sat on Wang Zeng's carriage.
Wang Zeng was sitting very securely. He opened the curtain on the carriage and looked out.
He looked particularly solemn when he saw the common people in the fields weeding the winter wheat, sweating profusely.
He saw children running, jumping, laughing, and chasing each other in the fields, and his silver teeth clenched.
His hand holding the carriage curtain slowly kneaded into a ball, twisting the flat carriage curtain into a ball.
"They...probably forgot..."
Wang Zeng turned his back to Kou Ji and said something without beginning or end.
Kou Ji looked out and saw the people working in the fields. He pondered for a moment and whispered: "Who knows..."
Wang Zeng turned around, and there seemed to be flames burning in his eyes. He stared at Kou Ji closely and said loudly: "I have never forgotten."
Kou Ji shook his head, looked at the children running and playing in the fields, and said quietly: "It's been almost a hundred years..."
Wang Zeng gritted his teeth and said: "It's eighty-four years and four months..."
Kou Ji was stunned for a moment, then nodded slowly and said: "Eighty-four years and four months, the rotation of nearly three or four generations..."
Kou Ji looked at the children in the fields and whispered: "Some old people may still remember, but these children may not remember."
Wang Zeng gritted his silver teeth, but he couldn't say a word.
Kou Ji sighed and said no more.
Kou Ji knew what Wang Zeng was talking about.
Wang Zeng also knew what Kou Ji was talking about.
But neither of them said it clearly.
Because it is a topic that makes people feel heartbroken when talking about it.
"Bang bang bang!"
Wang Zeng slapped the compartment of the carriage and roared at the soldiers guarding the carriage: "Show guard of honor!"
Upon hearing this, the soldiers quickly held up the guard of honor.
The large flag with Song characters fluttering in the wind made a roaring sound in the wind.
When the people working in the fields saw the banner with Song characters, they stopped what they were doing and looked at the Song envoys from the Liao Kingdom.
Wang Zeng saw this scene and excitedly slapped the carriage and shouted to Kou Ji: "They haven't forgotten, they haven't forgotten..."
Kou Ji looked at the people, sighed, and closed his eyes.
Did they forget nothing?
Have you not forgotten that you are a Han Chinese?
Have you not forgotten that the sixteen states of Yanyun under your feet were once Han territories?
But so what?
The Song Dynasty was unable to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and what awaited them was only disappointment and despair.
Eighty-four years and four months have passed since Shi Jingtang dedicated the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to the Liao Kingdom.
How many people in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were waiting for the restoration of the Han Dynasty, but they went from hope to disappointment, from disappointment to despair.
How many people died with hatred for this?
That bitterness, that pain.
It was far beyond what the scholar-bureaucrats in the Great Song Dynasty could understand.
All they saw was the territory of Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, but no one saw the people living in this territory.
The Song Dynasty envoys advanced less than a hundred feet when they were stopped by a group of old men who had abandoned their farm tools and were running towards them.
The old men gathered together in small groups, stopped the Song Dynasty envoys, and shouted loudly.
"But the envoy of the Song Dynasty is in person?"
Wang Zeng appeared outside the carriage when they blocked the road.
Facing the inquiries of the elders.
He said loudly: "Exactly!"
Upon hearing this, the old men quickly knelt down on the ground and solemnly performed the three hundred and ninety-nine kowtow ceremony.
While saluting, he shouted loudly.
"The obedient people of the Liao Dynasty, bow to the angel of the Song Dynasty!"
Their shouts were loud and their attitude was very respectful.
But when Wang Zeng heard this, he covered his face with his sleeves and hid in the carriage.
The Song army officers and soldiers who followed the carriage on all sides covered their faces with their sleeves in shame.
Are they really kneeling to welcome the envoys of the Song Dynasty?
no!
They are humiliating the envoys of the Song Dynasty.
That cry of "Da Liao obeys the people" broke the hearts of all the people in the Song Dynasty envoy.
"Get away!"
Among the envoys, some people could not bear the humiliation and waved their riding whips to drive away the old men.
Wang Zeng was in the carriage and gritted his teeth when he heard the noise, but did not go out to stop the assailant.
It's not that he doesn't want to go out, it's that he has no face to face those old people.
He waved his hand to Kou Ji and said, "Go out and stop him."
Kou Ji sighed, stood up slowly, and got off the carriage.
Walking all the way to the front of the mission, I saw a bearded soldier, swinging his whip on the ground to scare the old men, he frowned and said: "Stop!"
The bearded soldier put away his whip, raised his hand to Kou Ji and said: "Kou Concierge, they have blocked our way forward, and I am driving them away."
Kou Ji waved his hand and said in a deep voice: "Back off! Go find your captain and get twenty military sticks."
The bearded soldier gritted his teeth and stepped back on his horse slowly.
Kou Ji straightened his clothes, walked heavily in front of the group of old people, and saluted them with the etiquette of a junior.
"Kou Ji, I have met all of you."
The old men waved their hands and said that they couldn't do it.
Kou Ji, however, kept bowing in front of the old men and did not move at all.
"You are an official of the Song Dynasty, there is no need to give gifts to us obedient people of the Liao Dynasty."
"Yes, yes, you are a noble person, how can you give gifts to ordinary people like us?"
"..."
The old men were talking in a flurry of words.
Kou Ji still didn't move.
"Why……"
Some of the old men sighed and said quietly: "He is a child who understands etiquette, so let's not embarrass him."
When the old men heard this, they stopped talking.
An old man came forward, raised Kou Ji's elbow, and said, "Baby, get up."
With the support of the elders, Kou Ji stood up slowly and said, "Thank you all, father-in-law."
The old man who helped Kou Ji up patted Kou Ji on the shoulder and said softly: "Good boy, go and ask your manager to come out. I have something to ask him."
Kou Ji said bluntly: "The person in charge was so ashamed that he hid in the carriage and refused to come out, so I sent a boy to persuade you."
The old man was stunned and laughed loudly: "This time there is a shameless person. Just want face, just want face. Last time I bumped into a shameless person. Not only did he not hide in the carriage, but he also rewarded me.
I gave you a whip.
That whipping made me feel particularly comfortable."
Kou Ji was silent, and after a long time, in the laughter of the old man, he said in a deep voice: "It was me who failed to live up to expectations and made you suffer. If I remember the life of that shameless man, please tell me, and I will definitely do it."
Make him more comfortable."
The old man was stunned when he heard the words, and laughed and said, "That's quite right."
The old man looked Kou Ji up and down and said with a smile: "Baby, I'm starting to like you a little bit. Tell me your name. I can turn around and talk to the others. Tell them that among the officials of Song Ting, there is such an interesting person as you."
doll."
Kou Ji cupped his hands and said, "Kou Ji."
When the old man heard this, he looked stunned.
The other old men also looked stunned.
The old man came close to Kou Ji and looked at Kou Ji carefully up and down, as if he wanted to see Kou Ji through.
After a long time, the old man stared at Kou Ji in confusion and asked, "Are you Kou Ji? The Kou Ji who made the Kou bus?"
Kou Ji nodded and said, "That's right the boy."
The old man stared at Kou Ji and praised: "In the past two years, I have always heard people say that you are a pure and filial person. They brag about you, and I don't believe it.
Now that I have met the real person and seen that you are always polite to us old guys, I believe you.
If you are so willing, could you give me the way to use Kou Gongcha so that we old guys can enjoy your blessing?"
Kou Ji solemnly said: "It should be so."
Immediately.
Kou Ji sent someone to get pen and ink, and began to write and draw.
He simply wrote down what Kou Gongche did.
After handing it to the old man, he warned: "My husband, time is tight, I can only jot down the instructions on how to use the Kou Gongche. If I have some free time and wait for me here when I return, I will definitely write down the detailed instructions on how to use the Kou Gongche."
I’ll give you the recipe.”
The old man took the instructions written by Kou Ji on how to use Kou's car, and said excitedly: "That's enough, that's enough, baby. You are a trustworthy person, and you did not use lies to deceive me and others."
Kou Ji sighed and said seriously: "I only hate that I haven't done enough."
The old man carefully put away Kou Ji's car, bowed his hand to Kou Ji, and said: "You are a good boy, I and others will not make things difficult for you. Go back and give your manager a message and ask for me.
When can we people return home?"
Hot tears burst from Kou Ji's eyes in an instant.
The old men watched Kou Ji shed tears, and they also shed tears.
They consciously stepped aside and made way for the Song envoys to pass.
Kou Ji opened his mouth several times with tears streaming down his face, but when the words came to his lips, he could not say them out.
He really wanted to give the old people a deadline and something to look forward to.
But he was also afraid that what he said would not be fulfilled and the elders would be disappointed.
They have been disappointed for eighty-four years and four months.
Kou Ji didn't dare to let them down again.
Kou Ji stared at them and choked: "It won't be too long...it won't be too long..."
When the old men heard this, they burst into tears and laughed.
They believed what Kou Ji said.
If Kou Ji casually promised a deadline, they wouldn't believe it.
Kou Ji wiped away his tears and bowed solemnly to the elders.
The old men all returned the gift with their hands raised.
Kou Ji turned around and walked to the carriage.
The Song Dynasty envoy set out again.
The soldiers carried their horses and held their ceremonial guards, and moved forward step by step.
Kou Ji returned to the carriage and saw Wang Zeng, who also had tears on his face.
After Wang Zeng waited for Kou Ji to sit down, he choked and said, "I have heard everything you said."
Kou Ji wiped the tears from his face and said nothing.
Wang Zeng said angrily: "It's because of our incompetence that we keep them living outside."
Kou Ji said seriously: "They will go home."
Wang Zeng nodded heavily.
The two were silent in the carriage for a long time.
Wang Zeng suddenly asked: "Why not give them a deadline?"
Kou Ji murmured: "I'm afraid that they will be disappointed, and I'm even more afraid that they will have to wait indefinitely."
When Wang Zeng heard this, he gritted his teeth and could not say a word.
thereafter.
On their way to Youzhou City, the envoys of the Song Dynasty encountered all kinds of people blocking their way.
There are farmers who farm, there are coachmen who drive carts, there are blacksmiths, there are scholars, there are businessmen...
All kinds of people stopped the Song Dynasty envoy, all asking one thing.
When will you return home?
Kou Ji's answer works for some people, but not for others.
Some pointed at his nose and scolded him, some spat at him, and some threw objects at him.
But no matter how these people treated him, Kou Ji was not angry or annoyed.
Because he knew that these people all yearned for the Han Dynasty.
It is not easy for them to live under the rule of the Liao people for eighty-four years and still have a heart toward the Han Dynasty.
They have grievances and bitterness that need to be vented, and Kou Ji can understand.
…
The people who blocked the road disappeared after the Song Dynasty envoy entered Youzhou.
It was not because the people in Youzhou had forgotten their identities, but because the Song envoys had an extra group of soldiers and horses to protect them from the Liao Kingdom.
Said to be a guard, it is actually more appropriate to describe it as surveillance or house arrest.
The leader was Yelu Angkor, the fourth prince of the Liao Emperor who had a grudge against Kou Ji.
It is said that after he learned that Kou Ji was in the Song Dynasty envoy, he took the initiative to ask Ying to come as a guard.
A prince of the Liao Kingdom personally served as their guard, which was a sign of respect for Wang Zeng and Xiang Minzhong.