Father can be an enemy to the country

The four of them walked along the canal for half a month. Although the surrounding canal scenery did not change much, the gradually cooler weather proved that they had arrived in the north.

This morning, Zhu Zhen was lying high in the cabin when he suddenly heard three people shouting outside.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes and came out to take a look. He saw that the water in front of him suddenly opened up. Under the reflection of the morning sun, it was covered with golden light. It was indeed very spectacular.

"Where are you, Uncle Six?" Zhu Xiongying asked excitedly. Even though he hasn't gotten off the boat yet, the beautiful rivers and mountains he saw along the way already made him feel that the trip was worthwhile.

"Such a big lake should be Weishan Lake." Zhu Zhen yawned: "It is connected end to end with Zhaoyang Lake, Dushan Lake and Nanyang Lake in the north, and is connected by waterways. It is collectively known as the Nansi Lake and the Grand Canal. Throughout it, business travelers gathered here and the shops were prosperous. It can be called the south of the Yangtze River in the north. Unfortunately, the Huitong River is now severely blocked, and the capital of the Yuan Dynasty is no longer in Peiping, so the grandeur here is no longer there."

"Brother Six is ​​so awesome!" Old Eleven sincerely admired Brother Six.

"That's right, my master knows everything!" Zhu Xiongying was very proud.

"Haha, I don't know a lot of things. But I know that Weishan Lake is a good place. This season you can eat four-nosed carp, hairy crabs, and shelducks and their eggs." Zhu Zhen touched Xiongying's face, smiled and said:

"Let's find a densely populated place to disembark and have a try."

"What, get off the boat?" The three heroes were extremely happy now. They had been unable to get off the boat for the past half month, which made the three and a half young men very frustrated.

"After passing Nansi Lake, we are not far from Yanzhou." Zhu Zhen said with a smile: "Is it true that we can just take a boat to find Lao Shi?"

"That's right. That way our every move would be clearly arranged by Brother Ten. It would be too passive!" Lao Twelve said in deep agreement.

"We can take advantage of the vast water surface of Nansi Lake to get rid of the following eyes so that they can't find us!" Zhu Xiongying also clapped his hands happily.

"Actually, we will definitely be able to find us in one day at most." Zhu Zhen took the toothbrush from the guard and said vaguely: "This time is not enough for us to collect much information, but we can..."

"Oh, I understand..." On the way down, Lao Twelve had completely transformed and immediately rushed to say: "But it is very important to prevent Brother Ten from knowing what we already know. Right, Six elder brother?"

"Uh..." Lao Liu's mouth was full of foam and he was dumbfounded. In fact, he wanted to say that it would be good to try the local specialties. After a long pause, he nodded and said, "Yes."

~~

We were told to get off the boat right away, but the size of Nansi Lake was still far beyond our imagination. Moreover, looking from the boat, although there are many villages on the shore, there are not many decent towns.

As a result, it was not until dusk that day that they changed into civilian clothes, took a boat, and landed in a place called Nanyang Town.

"After the Yuan Dynasty built the Huitong River and opened the North-South Grand Canal to navigation, the ancient town of Nanyang became an important commercial port on the bank of the canal." Zhu Zhen pointed to the water town in front of him and explained to the three of them like a tour guide:

"Later in the second year of Yuan Zhishun, Nanyang Gate was rebuilt here. From then on, Nanyang became more famous. It was once called the Four Canal Towns together with Yangzhou, Zhenjiang and Xia Town."

"Really?" The three of them looked at the small town in front of them, where hundreds of families lived, and felt a little unbelievable. Let alone Zhenjiang, this place was far worse than Yangzhou.

"Yes! What this young man said is absolutely right!" The old fisherman on the shore interjected loudly: "Fifty years ago, there were tens of thousands of households and thousands of shops in Nanyang Town, and the wharf was more than ten times larger than it is now. .”

"Then how could it be like this?" the three asked.

"The war was ruined, and the river connection was also ruined later. How can there be anyone willing to do business?" The gray-haired old fisherman sighed: "Now that all grain is transported by sea, I guess I can't go back at all... …”

"Look at me, an old fool. What are you talking about?" He said with a smile and asked, "Are the three young masters and this young master coming to Nanyang to find relatives or to visit friends?"

"No, we went on a study tour with my brother." Lao Twelve replied quickly.

"Then you are in the wrong place." The old fisherman looked at Zhu Xiongying and lowered his voice and said, "Go back quickly, otherwise this young master will be in danger."

"..." The four of them looked at each other in confusion after hearing this, and the twelfth man whispered: "Is Jin Yiwei so awesome? We even changed boats and didn't get rid of him?"

Deng Duo, who was behind them, was also staring at the old man. He felt that this man did not look like a secret agent of Jinyiwei and had no official air about him. This feeling of being unable to see through makes people's hair stand on end.

"Why did I say this?" Zhu Zhen pulled Zhu Xiongying behind him and asked calmly.

"Don't get me wrong, young master, I only mean well." The old fisherman looked around and saw a familiar figure approaching on the pier, so he said without further words: "In short, a man like the young master should not come here. This Jining Prefecture...oh no, it's from Yanzhou Prefecture."

After saying that, he carried the oar and got out of the boat, leaving only the brothers looking at each other.

"This old man can get the names of places wrong," Lao Twelve whispered, "Can't he be a liar?"

No need to use the sixth brother now, the eleventh brother explained: "Before this year, this was Jining Prefecture. Later, after the tenth brother was granted the title of Yanzhou, my father elevated Yanzhou to a prefecture and demoted Jining to a scattered state, which became part of Yanzhou. . It’s only been a few months, so it’s normal for the locals to call it the wrong name.”

Lao Liu nodded and was about to speak when he saw the figure who scared away the old man approaching. He thought he was a gangster or something like that, but unexpectedly he turned out to be a man dressed as a waiter in a green hat and a white towel on his shoulders.

"Bless you guys, are you going to be in charge or staying in a hotel?" It turned out to be a store clerk when he opened his mouth.

"I work as a top-notch person but also stay in a hotel." Zhu Zhen said with a smile: "I heard that the hairy crabs in Nanyang Lake are very famous, so I brought my brothers here to try them out. Can you get them in your store?"

"The guest has really asked the right place." The shop clerk said proudly: "Our shop is the best in the town for making fresh seafood. The hairy crabs we use all have green shells and white bellies, golden claws and yellow hairs, and body-strengthening cream. Fatty and rich in fragrance, it is known as the 'Emperor on the Lake'!"

The brothers frowned upon hearing this, thinking that this is a bit taboo, right? But Lao Liu didn't care, and smiled at the guy: "So good? Is that far?"

"It's close, that's the one with the red lantern in front." The shop assistant pointed to the distance and said with a smile, "Just lift your legs and you'll be there."

"Then I'll go live at your house!"

"Okay, please come this way." The store clerk nodded and bowed, and led the group forward diligently.

Zhu Zhen asked: "I heard that your children from Yanzhou Prefecture are not allowed to come?"

"No, no, how can you say this?" The man shook his head like a rattle and said, "Did you listen to the old fisherman? He has a problem here." He pointed to his head and said with a smile, "Who He didn’t grow up from a child, if it was true as he said, there would be no one in Nanyang Town long ago.”

"That's it." Zhu Zhen nodded and said no more.