The sound of the watchman's gong spread throughout Bingyuan City, as well as into the courtyards of Jinwu and Escort Bureaus. These courtyards, which are enclosed by brick walls on three sides and are not connected to the surrounding residential buildings, are where the escort officers and their families live. , rather than a house, it is more like another walled city in Bingyuan City. There are even orderly crenel watchtowers on the brick walls, gazebos at four corners, and the only door opening. At the end of the east-west corridor in the style of a city gate is an ancestral hall housing the memorial tablets of bodyguards who have died for the bodyguards in past generations, and incense is constantly burning.
The houses for people to live in the compound are cleverly separated from the yard where the bodyguards practice martial arts on weekdays. If anyone can overlook the compound of the Wuhe Bodyguard Agency from a very high place, they will definitely be amazed by the houses and the exquisite road design. , with the skill of the army's five formations, it was designed into a walled city that was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and a small city was built in the circular city.
Bingyuan City was the capital of Jinzhou in the north of Dayao. Historical records record that the city was broken into by barbarians from the prairie many times. However, in the street fighting after the city was broken, the courtyard of Wuhe Escort was often the last place to hold on. Since it was built by Master Zhang Wu and his generation of bodyguards, the courtyard was destroyed twice due to barbaric disasters. Both times were rebuilt later, often with larger specifications.
The last time the compound of the Wuhe Escort Bureau was destroyed was more than 30 years ago after the founding of Yao. Since then, the emperor of the Qi Dynasty has stationed troops in the north and set up four state army camps in the east, west, south and west of Jinzhou. It only stops under the towering city walls of Bingyuan City.
The ancestral hall at the end of the corridor is one of the few places in the compound that still has lights on. The shadows of people in the ancestral hall are reflected in the white semi-transparent window paper.
The ancestral hall is not a place where you can come and go at will. There is a half-blind old man who is missing an arm and a leg. He is in charge of this place. He regularly replaces the broken fruits and melons, wipes the dust on the memorial tablets, and adds some incense. No one wants to When you come to this quiet and inviting place, even the greedy children will be severely warned by their families, saying that there are many souls living in the ancestral hall, specializing in sucking the yang energy of children.
But if you really go in, you will know that this is not the case. The charcoal fire in the ancestral hall is extremely strong, making the whole big house as warm as spring. The top tablets have been taken down by the old man and wiped spotless. The two brass lamps The evergreen lanterns flickered and illuminated the densely packed tablets on the two walls of the ancestral hall. The remaining wall was mostly filled with it. It looked newer, and the gold-painted regular characters on it were still bright. Dried fruits were placed on the confession table. and cakes, a rare thing in Jinju, a land with poor land.
There were more than ten people standing in the usually inaccessible ancestral hall. The leader knelt on the futon in front of the confession and bowed three times, and then put three sticks of incense on the incense burner. Everyone stood behind him with their heads bowed and solemnly. The highest place on the enshrined tablet seems to be Zhang Wuhe’s name.
The old man, who was missing one arm and one leg, was holding up a wooden stick on his leg. He was walking with a slight limp. One sleeve was hanging empty beside him, and the other hand was holding five new tablets. He had not yet had time to write with paint. gold.
The people kneeling on the futon and worshiping were all equally old. They stood up and took the tablet from the hand of the disabled old man.
"Five more. There are more than ten people who died outside and above the city this spring..." The one-armed, one-legged old man who handed over the memorial tablet walked towards the ancestral hall and sat down on the chair of the Grand Master step by step. "The Escort Bureau was originally nearby. There haven’t been many capable people in a few years. It’s a pity that there are still a few who haven’t gotten married..."
Zhang Bashun, who stood silently aside, bit
Ya said: "I asked someone in the escort to take the escort. If the person who died just now is really punished, he will also punish the escort leader..."
"Stupid! Is this the time for you to speak?" The old man who took over the memorial tablet had a white beard and white hair, and was wrapped in a cleaner sheepskin fur. He scolded Zhang Bashun, as if he was admonishing a young child, "It's a done deal.
You are not a young man, so I won’t say much. If everyone in the escort agency were like you, they would lose 20 to 30% of their manpower for one escort trip. How could the agency be able to assemble a whole team of escorts in five years?
!”
He lowered his head and looked at the fine water-milled bricks in the ancestral hall. The bricks that had been stepped on by generations had become as smooth as a mirror, which could reflect the expressions of human faces. What he saw reflected on the ground was the face of a haggard and skinny old man.
His gray beard and hair were messy and tangled because he had no time to take care of them. He looked more like an old beggar than the head escort of Wuhe Escort Agency.
To be honest, the old man with white beard and white hair who had a clean body and a sheepskin coat was still more slovenly. But no one around him dared to point it out. Who knew that he was the escort officer of the Wuhe Escort Agency leading hundreds of escorts?
The escapist, the highly respected head escort of Wu He Escort Bureau.
"I, Zhang Bashun, took over this private job in Heqinghua Mansion with one hand. One person does the work and the other takes responsibility. Everything will be punished according to the rules of the escort agency. I just have a merciless request." Zhang Bashun knelt down on the ground of fine water tiles.
He kowtowed heavily and said, "All the brothers in my bodyguard worked hard this time. Everyone had to go through the door of hell before getting some money as capital for their lives. Please beg the chief bodyguard not to use these hard-earned money."
Take it back!"
"You are confused!"
A roar like thunder exploded in the ancestral hall, and then a punch hit Zhang Bashun's head, who was kneeling on the ground. The masonry floor, which had not been damaged after the Jiazi years, was hit with cracks and cracks.
Extending in all directions, the dust on the beams fell to the ground, the enshrined tablets were crumbling, and the entire ancestral hall was shaking. It took more than a dozen instants before it completely subsided. Dozens of tablets fell down, and were destroyed by the surrounding people.
People hurriedly helped it up, but a long-burning lamp also fell to the side. The oil poured out and was about to catch fire, but was stepped on with boots.
Was it the earth dragon turning over? The sleeping people in the nearby houses were shaken awake. Jinzhou's ground was unstable, and it was not uncommon for the earth dragon to turn over. Therefore, they all got off the bed and ran out of the house, but they all saw it.
After hearing the noise in the ancestral hall, everyone yawned and went back to the house. Don't look at it. It was probably the chief escort who was throwing a bad temper in the ancestral hall again. A few interested people came out of the house and put on clothes to see what the chief escort was doing again.
What's the fuss about?
"You are also an old man in the escort agency. You remember many rules better than me." The old man with white beard and white hair grabbed Zhang Bashun by the back collar of his clothes, pulled him up from the ground and faced him, "Let's relax today.
If you give money to these people, tomorrow there will be a second and third escort chief to imitate your example. The whole thing is broken from the root. What rules does this escort agency have?"
He looked angrily at Zhang Bashun, who also widened his eyes and seemed to be risking his life. He also spat at him: "A month's escort fee is only a dozen taels of silver. The cost of escorting the escort is not included in the family."
We are less than ten taels, and both of my sons want to study and become officials. They cost money to buy ink scrolls, to buy things in the study, and to take exams. Only ten taels of silver are enough for the food and clothing of the family!
Where do you think I got this money from?"
"For a person like me who has a family, it's okay for Lao Gu's son to wait until the bodyguard retreats on his own.
, I can’t count on one hand the number of people in my bodyguard who are in their twenties and have yet to get married or buy a house in their old age!” Zhang Bashun’s feet, which were lifted up to the level of his head, did not even touch the ground. They were floating in mid-air.
Zhong Fen vigorously waved his arms and shouted at the people in front of him, "Don't they want to? Is it because they haven't done enough for the Escort Bureau? Or is it that the Escort Bureau has given too little to those of us who do things!"
There was a one-armed man nearby who was about the same age as Zhang Bashun and couldn't help but said: "Old Zhang, don't fight with Biao Tou'ao!"
Gu Shengyang was also in the ancestral hall. As the second-in-command of the escort, such a big thing happened to the escort. He should also bear a share of the responsibility. However, he managed to escape because of a broken arm. The chief escort did not want to take offense and turned to
Taking out all his anger on Zhang Bashun, he was lucky enough to feel a little guilty.
Except for the two of them who were on this escort trip, the rest of the people present were all senior escorts in the escort agency. The youngest one was also a middle-aged man who was not confused, and the older one was no more than the chief escort with white beard and white hair.
Looking at how tender their faces were, they all stood around respectfully with their hands down, as frightened as students in a school listening to their teacher's teachings.
The angry look on the old man's face, who had been sprayed with spit by Zhang Bashun, gradually faded away. He put down Zhang Bashun, who was lifting him like a chicken, and only then did people realize how majestic his figure was. Zhang Bashun was already nearly seven years old.
The head of the Wuhe Escort Agency is actually a head taller than him.
"How many of you think like this?"
More than a dozen people around looked at each other. They were all martial artists who started on the third floor of the martial arts realm. Even if they were to look after the homes of wealthy families, their monthly money would be far more than the pitiful dozen or so taels that the escort agency handed to their hands. They
There are many among them who are old warriors who have been in the army and the escort agency for several generations. They really can't give up, and they can't bear the shame to work as a nursing home, which is only better than a servant, so they stay in the escort agency.
It took me all these years to get to the position of escort leader. I am not mediocre in both my work and my own skills. Who can be willing to pay only a dozen taels of monthly money? Most of these ten people are on the way to escort escorts.
He had a private life, but he kept it well hidden and nothing happened, unlike Zhang Bashun who had a huge appetite and took a job that he couldn't eat, bursting his stomach, and then showed his true identity.
The expressions of these people could not be hidden from the eyes of the old man. He had also walked from the bodyguard to this position step by step. He also knew the thoughts of these bodyguards. It was not that he had not brought someone to take over the private work back then. Three hundred taels of silver
, I went to kill a tough bandit who kidnapped the daughter of a rich man in that place. He happened to be sitting on the top of the hill passing by. He was also a hot-tempered person. After a few words, he got into a conflict with the escort team and killed two people.
After hurting a man, he took the man's head to Tucai's house and received three hundred taels of silver in exchange for it.
It's not that he has never lived such a life, it's only when he gets older that he realizes that no amount of money can exchange for the life of the person he spends day and night with, and no amount of wealth and splendor is just a big wave in the end.