Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

A deserted beach outside the market was chosen by the father and son as a place to spend the night.

The beach is covered with pebbles, and occasionally green grass emerges from the cracks of the stones, becoming a delicious dinner for the skinny horse.

Zhu Guoxiang took off his shoes and socks, sat on a big stone, washed his feet, and reviewed various events today: "That Orion Zhang was a little too enthusiastic."

"That's not the case." Ju Ming really didn't think so, because he was this kind of person. As long as it didn't harm his own interests, he would always help those who were in trouble.

Zhu Guoxiang smiled and said: "The salt I have eaten is more than the rice you have eaten. Zhang Orion gave me the feeling that there is a shortage of people in his village, or there is a shortage of people with some ability."

Zhu Ming didn't like his father's reliance on his old age, so he immediately retorted: "You eat so much salt and you're not left hanging?"

"Forget it if you don't believe it." Zhu Guoxiang was too lazy to defend.

After washing his feet, he wiped them dry on his trouser legs and picked up the socks lying next to them.

There were holes in the socks, and there was a sour smell. Zhu Guoxiang came closer to smell them with some disgust, and threw them away on the river beach.

"Crab!"

Suddenly seeing something in the water, Zhu Guoxiang jumped out and shouted in surprise: "Move the rocks in the water quickly, there might be crabs!"

When Zhu Ming saw the river crab in his father's hand, he immediately became excited. He took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his trouser legs, and rushed into the water to catch crabs.

The thin horse raised his head when he heard the sound, looked at them doubtfully, and walked slowly towards the water. Passing by the place where Ju Ming took off his shoes, he was immediately frightened away by the stench, and the horse ran away whining sadly.

After turning over more than ten stones, Ju Ming finally caught a crab. Although it was small, it was still edible.

I kept tossing until it got dark and caught twelve crabs, big and small.

Zhu Ming went to collect firewood nearby, while Zhu Guoxiang stayed on the river beach to build a stove. A few large pebbles were piled together, and water was filled in a pottery pot that was picked up. All the crabs were gutted and thrown into it.

After a while, Zhu Ming came back from collecting firewood and set up a pot to boil water to cook crabs.

Yesterday afternoon and this morning, they all had vegetable porridge at Tian's house. In the afternoon, Orion Zhang treated him to a treat and had a bowl of noodles in the town. At least I had enough fat, salt, and carbohydrates to eat, so I wasn't as hungry as I was a few days ago, but I was still hungry and panicking at this moment.

The river water boiled for a while, and Zhu Ming asked: "Is it ready?"

"It should be ready." Zhu Guoxiang used the grass as a rag and carefully held the pot to the side.

Zhu Ming used a small stick as chopsticks and quickly picked out the crabs, stuffing them into his mouth regardless of how hot they were. It's saltless and tasteless, but so delicious that even the crab legs in their shells are swallowed.

Zhu Guoxiang was also devouring the crab soup. After waiting for the crab soup to cool down a little, he buried his head and opened his mouth to drink.

After finishing the crabs quickly and filling his stomach with soup, Zhu Ming touched his belly and said, "I feel strong. I will catch crabs tomorrow."

Zhu Guoxiang recalled the past: "I have been hungry since I was a child, and my childhood dream was to have enough to eat. I remember when I was in junior high school, a wealthy classmate from the county treated me to a treat, giving each person a bottle of beer and two kilograms of braised pig heads. That was It was the first time I drank beer and the first time I ate braised pork. At that time, I thought, if I could drink beer every day and eat braised pig heads every time, I would have nothing else to pursue in my life.”

"It's a good ambition in life." Zhu Ming smiled.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Your generation is blessed, and you are born with no worries about food and clothing. It would be nice to travel through time, so that you can experience what it feels like to be hungry."

Zhu Ming suddenly said in a strange tone: "Am I lucky? It depends on who I compare with! My mother and I both ran away to do some scientific research, leaving me to roam around in the countryside. I am a child of a high-level intellectual family. How are they different from left-behind children? Other parents of migrant workers will at least go home during the Chinese New Year. It’s better for you two, you don’t know what you are busy with during the Chinese New Year.”

Zhu Guoxiang was immediately speechless. As a father, he had indeed failed to fulfill his responsibilities.

The thin horse wandered over at some point, with some soup left in the clay pot. The beast was not polite and started drinking. He even found a crab leg and bit it into his mouth, chewing the taste slowly.

Zhu Guoxiang looked up at the stars and sat by the campfire in a daze.

"The old rule is to keep vigil in turns." Ju Ming sat down cross-legged and put the sword across his knees. "I exposed my wealth in the pawn shop during the day, so I have to be more careful tonight."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Then I will sleep for a while, and you will wake me up when the time comes."

"Go to sleep." Ju Ming said.

There were a lot of dead branches and leaves by the river. Zhu Ming got up and picked up some more, slowly adding fuel to the bonfire.

On the river bank farther away, several gangsters were lying there.

Both father and son are strangers, so it is easy to find out their whereabouts. The pawn shop clerk found a few gangsters and came there in the evening, planning to wait until midnight before taking action.

The gangster leader named Bai Er was discussing the issue of dividing the spoils: "These two foreigners are so hungry that they are catching crabs to eat. I'm afraid they don't have half a penny on them. The only valuable things they have are the skinny horse, a writing brush, and... There are weapons on my back. I’ll let you take the writing brush and leave the rest to us brothers.”

But the pawn shop clerk was not happy: "We agreed to split the money equally, so why does the thin horse belong to you? Brother Bai, this is a bit unjust."

Bai Er said: "What's the use of that horse? It's so skinny that it has no strength to pull and grind, so it can only be killed for meat."

"It's only a few kilograms of meat." Another ruffian interrupted.

The pawnbroker said: "Even if you kill the horse for meat, you still have to share a piece of horse meat with me."

Bai Er said impatiently: "Bianfenfenfen, your mother, you are so poor and crazy!"

The pawn shop clerk smiled and didn't mind that his mother was being taken advantage of.

Bai Er added: "Wait until they fall asleep, rush up and hit them with the stick. Save some strength before you start, otherwise no one will die."

"What if I accidentally kill him?" asked a rogue.

Bai Er said: "If they are beaten to death, it will be bad luck for them, and they will be thrown into the river to feed the fish."

…

On the other side of the river bank, Zhang Guangdao was sitting in the rape field, munching wheat cakes leisurely.

Two strangers, with a horse, were wandering around the market, and Zhang Guangdao was sure they would be targeted.

If you let the father and son suffer and then go up to rescue each other, won't you just make two good guys up the mountain?

Why is he a hero?

Although the father and son's clothes were dirty and torn, they behaved with their own temperament and demeanor. Standing among a bunch of villagers, he looks like he stands out from the crowd. He must have a great background.

He is really in need of someone!

The village is mainly divided into two factions, one is the local faction headed by the village owner, and the other is the outside faction headed by the second master.

The local faction has a large number of people and a deep foundation. It controls the county government relations and channels for selling stolen goods.

Although the number of outsiders is smaller, their personal abilities are outstanding, and the second boss is very charming.

The local faction only wants to live a stable life, while the outside faction is more radical. The second leader has repeatedly proposed killing officials and rebelling. Zhang Guangdao is ranked fifth. He also supports the killing of officials in rebellion, and before killing officials, he must first kill the novice members of Xiabai Village!

The little white member became more and more greedy, and collaborated with the copycat to smuggle tea, and the share he demanded continued to increase. The property that was robbed was very aggressively priced when helping to sell the stolen goods. They also monopolized the nearby private salt business and did not allow other private salt dealers to go to the copycat to sell their goods... All these things made the bandits increasingly dissatisfied.

After eating the wheat cake and wiping his hands, Zhang Guangdao took out a hatchet and took off the stick to assemble it.

The Pu Dao was assembled and inserted into the soil.

Immediately afterwards, he took off the hunting bow and put on the bowstring with a little force.

The factional fighting in the village has become more and more obvious, and Zhang Guangdao is eager to recruit more foreign heroes.

"Kill this thief, kill him!"

From the river beach in the distance, a shout suddenly came.

Zhang Guangdao knew that a gangster had taken action, so he stood up slowly, picked up the knife and groped for it.

He is not in a hurry, they are just a few rogues and will not kill them easily.

…

Ju Ming was sitting cross-legged by the campfire, his back facing the river, and his eyes looking everywhere on the shore.

The skinny horse was lying on its side on the river beach. Not only was it asleep, but it was also snoring.

This made Ju Ming doubt his life. Shouldn't horses sleep standing up?

Suddenly, the thin horse turned over and stood up, looking towards the grass in the distance. The horse's paws were scratching the pebbles and kicking them in front of Ju Ming.

Horses are animals whose vision is not very good, but their senses of hearing and smell are extremely sensitive.

After traveling through time, Ju Ming also had sharp senses. He noticed something strange about the thin horse, and immediately held his breath to listen carefully, and gradually heard the footsteps getting closer and closer.

Ju Ming poked his father with the hilt of his sword: "Dean Zhu, get up and start working."

Zhu Guoxiang woke up with a yawn, stretched and said, "You can go to sleep, I'll keep watch for the rest of the night."

"A guest is here," Ju Ming said.

Zhu Guoxiang was instantly alert and picked up a wooden stick in one hand and a pebble in the other.

Bai Er, who was walking forward at a stoop, saw the two men's movements clearly through the firelight, and knew that he had been exposed, so he called out: "Stop dawdling, everyone stand up."

The rogues stood up one after another, six in total.

The main combat weapon was the whistle stick, and two of them carried daggers.

Bai Er walked at the front carrying a stick and said with a smile: "I feel very alarmed. When you reach Bai Er's territory, if you want to survive, get out of here and hand over all your belongings!"

The lights on the other side were dark and only the silhouettes of people could be seen.

But Ju Ming also breathed a sigh of relief: "There are not many people, so we can fight, just to test our strength."

As early as the beginning of the time travel, when climbing the cliff, Ju Ming found that his strength had become stronger, and his reflexes seemed to be sharper.

The six rogues dispersed as they walked, seeming to want to surround the father and son.

"Hey!"

Zhu Guoxiang let out a muffled scream and actually took the lead in attacking, smashing the pebbles in his hand from afar.

The pebbles were not only thrown extremely far, but also quickly and accurately. Bai Er narrowly avoided the attacks.

The air flow from the stone was still lingering in his ears. Bai Er, who was almost hit, was shocked and angry. He picked up his stick and shouted: "Kill this thief, kill him!"