The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 226 Tea Shop
In a thatched teahouse beside the official road, a burly man who looked like an official picked up a coarse porcelain tea bowl, put it to his mouth and just took a sip, he spat the tea all over the floor with a "puff".

"Is this also tea?"

A young man sitting opposite the official shouted angrily, "Lu Jianxing, we're not in the capital. Where can we find a decent teahouse in this wilderness? If you want to drink good tea, go back to the capital!"

There were more than a dozen refugees gathered around the teahouse. They were all ragged and skinny. One of the women was holding a child in her arms, who was crying loudly.

This group of refugees surrounded the teahouse, eagerly waiting for alms from the tea drinkers who got off the carriage.

At least in their opinion, these tea drinkers were well-dressed and obviously came from wealthy families in the capital.

"Go away, whatever you have, stay away and don't delay my business!"

A waiter with monkey cheeks and a pointed mouth was swinging a wooden stick to drive away the refugees approaching the teahouse. An old man with difficulty walking was unable to dodge and was hit and fell to the ground wailing.

"Damn it, you Henan barbarians, why don't you stay in Henan and beg for food, but run to the capital to beg for money? Get out!"

The guy cursed and turned around, then immediately put on a fawning smile and smiled at Shen Lian and others.

All the way east, there was a constant stream of refugees along the way. They came from Henan and Northern Zhili, and some came from Shandong. At first, Shen Lian gave them some money and food, but later, as the number of refugees increased, to the thousands or even tens of thousands, he was unable to provide for them and stopped caring about them.

The scene before him made people furious. Several people around him were about to explode, but Shen Lian gave a look and Lu Jianxing sat down.

"General Liu's military law is very strict. Soldiers have to go through a lot of training before they can pass it. If they violate the military law, they will be beheaded. Don't blame me for not reminding you. However,"

Shen Lian paused for a moment and continued, "If you have made military achievements, you will be promoted quickly. Deng Changxiong and Wang Erhu, who fought with me at that time, are now captains, equivalent to lieutenant generals in our Ming Dynasty. They will be promoted in the future."

"Why haven't I heard Brother Shen mention it? So, if you hadn't left Kaiyuan, you would be a lieutenant general now?"

Shen Lian remained silent. Several of his men looked at Big Brother Shen with different eyes.

Zhao Yuanzhi said to Lu Jianxing, "Captain Shen is right, Second Lu. You've only been at the Pacification Office for a few days, and you're already tired of this simple life. If it weren't for Big Brother Shen promoting you, you'd still be a thug on Dingzi Street! Those who made it to the position of Lieutenant General under Big Brother Shen aren't as impressive as you!"

Lu Jianxing's neck turned red. Shen Lian waved his hand to interrupt the two of them and whispered:
"We've killed people and burned down the Jiaofangsi, committing heinous crimes. There's no escape. You followed me, Shen Lian, and fled here. I'll definitely find a way to survive. Once you get to Kaiyuan, you must obey the law, be more careful in what you do, and put away your temper from the East Factory. From now on, when I venture out into the martial arts world, no one will protect you."

The teahouse was full of people. This small teahouse, located on the official road between Beijing and Tianjin, was rarely as lively as it was today. Five or six shabby tables were all occupied. The waiters drove away the refugees and bustled around pouring tea for the guests and serving them some hot steamed buns.

Cailian handed the hot tea and steamed buns to Aunt Shen. Zuo Miaoqing had disheveled hair and stared blankly at the refugees around her, giggling, looking like a ghost.

Pei Dahu, Lin Yu, Wu Xiao and others sat at other tables. They rested for half an hour, and everyone was worried that the pursuers might catch up at any time, and they were a little anxious.

After leaving Zuoanmen, Pei Dahu instructed Shen Lian that the convoy must rush to Tianjin as soon as possible. If the Tianjin Port was not frozen, they would take a Fujian ship from Zhangjiawan to Weihaiwei. Once they arrived in Weihai, they would be in the Kaiyuan Army's territory, and the East Factory would have no way to do anything to them.

Shen Lian was laughing and joking all the way, dressed in fine clothes and riding a horse. It was more like he was on a honeymoon with his lover than escaping.

"Brother Pei, is Captain Shen really reliable? One moment he's retired from society, the next he's in love. Why did Marquis Ping Liao send him to the capital as an undercover agent?"

"You ask me, who should I ask? Go back and ask Lord Liu yourself!"

Wu Xiao stared at the tea leaves at the bottom of the bowl, spat, and said with an unhappy look on his face.

"He has dozens of lives in his hands, and he's so careless. I suggest we don't go with them. Let's go to Tianjin first and let them linger behind us."

Wu Xiao picked up his goose-feather knife and made a move to stand up, but Pei Dahu didn't move, so he sat down again in frustration. He turned around and glanced at Lin Yu, who was a head taller than him.

"Hey, Big Lin, if Brother Pei won't leave, are you going too? You were caught by the bandits and taken to the East Factory, where you have to cut off your thing first. From now on, you can only enter the palace as a eunuch..."

Lin Yu was silent, busy eating his cake. Ever since he sat on the bench, the big man Lin had been talking non-stop.

After half an hour, the giant had eaten twelve steamed buns and drank five bowls of tea, and it looked like he wanted to eat a thirteenth.

Wu Xiao took out the last few pieces of silver from his sleeve, placed them on the table, and said unhappily, "Eat slowly, this is all we have left."

Coming all the way from the capital, Wu Xiao gave away all the small change he had to the refugees. His hometown was near Henan, and the accents of these refugees spoke to him with a familiarity.

Wu Xiao not only spent all his money, but also emptied the pockets of Pei Dahu and Lin Yu. Pei Dahu stood up and said to the two of them:

"Okay, I'll go talk to him. The Jinyiwei's ways of doing things are different from ours in Kaiyuan, so I'll have to rely on them to take care of me on the way."

Shen Lian does things differently.

He called the shop assistant over, motioned him to sit down, took out a few pieces of silver from his sleeve, and spread them on the table one by one.

The tea shop attendant stared at the silver coins with his eyes wide open. Shen Lian knocked on the table, and the attendant finally woke up.

"Young man, I think you're a nice person, and your tea is good too. I'm happy today, so I'll give you this silver as a reward. We're a group of medicine merchants from Shaanxi, and we're in a hurry to go south along the Grand Canal to Henan. We heard that there are many deaths there, and medicinal herbs are selling well there. How far is it from here to Tianjin?"

The clerk took the change, an expression of disbelief on his face, and said hurriedly:
"Twenty, twenty miles, only twenty miles away from Tianjin."

"You're here every day and see a lot of tea drinkers. Do you know what interesting news has happened in Tianjin recently?"

This teahouse is located in the wilderness, and usually only local farmers and traveling merchants pass by. The waiter has never seen such a generous customer before, and his eyes narrowed into a thin line:
"Sir, you are asking the right question. Recently, there has been such an incident in Tianjin. Let me tell you about it."

The waiter took the money and said straight to the point without any hesitation:

"Have you ever heard of Lu Tongzhi of Tianjin?" To the clerk's surprise, Shen Lian nodded. The clerk smiled and whispered:
"Sir, you are truly well-informed. To be honest, this Mr. Lu is a wealthy businessman and one of the richest men in Tianjin. However, Mr. Lu has recently suffered a disaster."

Shen Lian took out a bag of melon seeds from his sleeve, sat on a small stool, crossed his legs, and chatted with the waiter while eating melon seeds.

"What kind of business is this? Can you be richer than the Governor of Tianjin?"

The waiter pretended to be mysterious and said, "The guest doesn't know that. The governor of Tianjin is his uncle. Mr. Lu is the one who sells the illegal salt of half of Northern Zhili. He also has brothels and porcelain businesses..."

Shen Lian laughed heartily: "He's my uncle again, why have I always been at odds with him these past few days?"

The waiter didn't understand what Shen Lian was saying, so he smiled twice and continued:
"Didn't we say earlier that Lord Lu had a disaster? This autumn, two ships of his cargo, either silk or porcelain, shipped to the Korean port of Incheon were robbed by a gang of pirates from Pidao Island! As soon as the news got back to Tianjin, Lord Lu was so angry he vomited blood!"

"Pidao pirates?"

The waiter was about to continue chatting when a man came over from the opposite side of Shen Lian and pushed the sharp-nosed and monkey-faced waiter away. The waiter started swearing, but when he saw that the man was tall and strong and had an unfriendly face, he quickly put on a smile.

Pei Dahu didn't even look at the waiter, he sat down, glanced at the Jinyiwei, and waited until the waiter walked away a few steps before he spoke:

"The pirates from Pi Island are Lord Liu's navy."

Of course, Shen Lian in the capital didn't know that in the past few months in Korea, the Liaodong Navy newly established by Ping Liaohou had been developing for almost a year and had begun to take shape. At present, the main business of the Liaodong Navy was to pretend to be pirates and rob Tianjin merchant ships going to Korea for trade. The owners behind these merchant ships were basically high-ranking officials from all over Northern Zhili, either rich or noble. To put it bluntly, what Wu Aheng and others were doing now was to rob the rich to help the poor.

"Marquis Ping Liao has great ambitions, even owning a navy. However, I'm afraid this pirate business won't last long."

Shen Lian was amazed.

This Lu Tongzhi was also unlucky. In the 47th year of Wanli, Kaiyuan was robbed once, and in the second year of Taichang, it was robbed again. I wonder how much silver he lost this time.

Pei Dahu looked back at the refugees gathered in the distance. Lin Yu was holding a basket of steamed buns and distributing them to the elderly, weak, women and children. Pei Dahu cursed in his heart, thinking that his money was completely gone.

This fierce head servant rarely showed his true feelings. He looked at Shen Lian and said sincerely:

"Captain Shen, Marquis Ping Liao did all this for them."

Shen Lian nodded noncommittally. Shen Lian had seen far more tragic things in the capital. During the twelfth lunar month, the military would send over a dozen carriages every day to transport corpses out of the city.

"Where in the Ming Dynasty isn't this the case? I'm reading the reports from the Pacification Office. In the disaster-stricken counties of Shaanxi and Henan, all the tree roots have been eaten up, and they're eating people. The disaster relief money the emperor sent out has already been divided up by the Cabinet's Silijian Pacification Office before it even leaves Zuo'an Gate..."

Shen Lian looked indifferent, as if he was talking about something very ordinary.

"That's why Ping Liao Hou wants to destroy the Ming Kingdom and save the people of the world. Brother Shen, you have been in the capital for a long time. You don't know that Ping Liao Hou is obsessed with these poor people. I'm afraid his daily food, clothing and other expenses are not as good as those of your subordinates."

Pei Dahu said this, his expression suddenly becoming serious.

"Stay in Kaiyuan. General Liu needs talents like you!"

Pei Dahu looked at the women nearby and continued to persuade them, "You've killed so many people. The court won't let you go. Why bother taking my mother on a pilgrimage and not being able to fulfill your filial duties? Stay in Kaiyuan and be a filial son."

Shen Lian shook his head and smiled, "Who said I want to take my mother with me to escape?"

Pei Dahu was stunned for a moment, and Shen Lian continued:
"I was going to go directly to Japan this time, but I was worried that I would send my mother and Zuo Guangdou's daughter to Kaiyuan in person. Ping Liaohou will help me take care of them in the future. She and I..."

Shen Lian said this, pointing to the Annan girl who was looking at him not far away.

"Let's go to Japan with her first."

"Japanese country?"

Pei Dahu was speechless.

"Ahem, of course, Mr. Shen won't ask for your help for nothing. This time when I return, I will give Kaiyuan a big gift."

Pei Dahu quickly asked, "What gift?"

Shen Lian smiled slightly and whispered into the ear of the head servant.

When Pei Dahu heard this, his eyes widened.

"What? Risking so many people to save him? Are you crazy?"

Shen Lian said sternly, "We must save this man! If you and I leave, he'll be left alone in Tianjin, old and helpless. He'll be pitiful. If the court gets angry, he'll definitely die. Aren't you afraid that Madam Gaoming will blame you when you go back?"

"Besides, he has a wide network of contacts in Tianjin, and perhaps he can bring even greater surprises to Kaiyuan."

Shen Lian put his arm around Pei Dahu's shoulders and said seriously:

"I just had a long chat with that kind-looking guy, and I'm waiting for him to pass on a message to the factory owner."

"Let's go now. Split into two groups. I'll lead the Jinyiwei along the official road, and you'll take the smaller roads. We'll meet at the East Gate of Tianjin after dark. I reckon the Dongchang guards will be here soon by then."

"You know Zhangjiagang, Tianjin. We've made arrangements in advance in Zhangjiagang. I'll have that person prepare more gunpowder and tung oil for us. With so many of us, we'll give the factory owner a surprise tonight."

(End of this chapter)