The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 487 Survived

Han Shizhong and Liang Hongyu abandoned all their property, leaving without even taking their luggage, and didn't even care about their children.

Han Shizhong had five children. Some died young, while others lived and served as officials in the imperial court.

But Han Shizhong was too lazy to pay attention to them. Anyway, the issue of the crime of treason had been resolved, and Zhao Gou had allowed him to go home to retire. He treated it as going out to travel and enjoy the scenery. He lived in seclusion in the Northern Song Dynasty and did not use his real name to go to the battlefield, so he could not harm his sons.

The two followed Yue Wenxuan and soon arrived at Xixi Wetland. There, they boarded Jiang Ziliang's merchant ship, accompanied by a plastic figure sent by Yue Wenxuan, and headed north along the Grand Canal to Chuzhou, following the exact same route that Li Gang had taken a few days earlier.

When Han Shizhong first entered the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty, he was amazed by the farmland on both sides of the river: "Wow, the farmland of the Northern Song Dynasty is really incomparable to that of my Southern Song Dynasty. The crops here are growing so well."

Liang Hongyu chuckled: "You only know how to fight wars, you haven't paid much attention to anything else. We received intelligence a long time ago that the Northern Song Dynasty has established a new type of official called 'Agricultural Scholar,' who is specifically responsible for teaching people how to farm. The more grain the area under their jurisdiction harvests, the higher their evaluation score will be, and the more likely they will be to be promoted in the future. So the Agricultural Scholars in the Northern Song Dynasty are always in the fields... Look, there's one in that field over there."

Han Shizhong looked closely and indeed saw a deputy agricultural official in the robes of a ninth-rank official, grabbing a young farmer by the ear and yelling, "What did I tell you last time? Don't apply too much fertilizer, or it will burn the roots! Why didn't you listen at all? Do I have to yell at you like that? Quickly get some water to rinse it off and dilute the fertilizer, otherwise these crops won't survive. Damn it, I just got assigned here as a village official, and you pull this stunt on me. Do you want to ruin my life as a ninth-rank official?"

Han Shizhong laughed heartily: "These farmers are like the green recruits in my army. They can't learn a simple action even after being taught for a long time. I have to grab their ears and yell at them. What's that called again?"

Liang Hongyu: "Give me a thorough and detailed instruction."

Han Shizhong laughed loudly: "Yes, yes, that's the word."

The couple were in high spirits; they felt they were heading into a whole new world.

Chuzhou is just ahead, and the docks are bustling with activity.

The couple's gaze didn't linger on the merchant ship; it fell directly on the military shipyard next to the dock...

Just then, a new boat was launched; it was a flat-bottomed centipede boat for inland waterways.

The soldiers of the Chuzhou Navy were boarding their ships in preparation for a trial voyage. Li Bao's son, Li Cheng, stood at the bow, shouting for the sailors to sit in the "rowing" positions. The two rows of sailors sat on either side of the oars...

At Li Cheng's command, the centipede boat shot off with a "whoosh," moving at an extremely fast speed.

Just as it was about to crash into the dock facilities, the centipede boat suddenly drifted sideways, narrowly missing the dock structure – it looked incredibly cool.

Seeing this, Han Shizhong got excited and jumped to the bow of the ship, waving at the centipede-shaped boat: "Come here, come here, ram into our merchant ship and let me experience close-range drifting."

Li Cheng is still young and has a youthful spirit. He's a bit of a show-off, and when someone asks him to join in, he'll immediately give it a shot.

The centipede-shaped ship charged towards the Jiang family's merchant ship, and just as it was about to collide, it suddenly swerved sideways...

Just then, Han Shizhong swiftly jumped onto the centipede boat.

This terrified Li Cheng, who hurriedly said, "Civilians are not allowed to board military warships indiscriminately. Get off immediately!"

Han Shizhong: "I am not a civilian."

Li Cheng: "Stop making excuses. I'll count to three, or I'll take you down." Han Shizhong originally intended to make a joke, but seeing that all the sailors on the centipede ship were tense and ready to fight, he spread his hands and said, "Oh, don't rush, don't rush, I'll leave... By the way, are the rules in your army this strict?"

Li Cheng: "Nonsense, how can we not be strict? Do we want it to be like the Southern Song Dynasty? There's no discipline whatsoever. Warships are not to be taken lightly. Get back to your merchant ship."

Han Shizhong jumped back onto the merchant ship, and only then did the sailors on the centipede ship relax again.

Young Li Cheng learned a lesson this time. He would never fall for a merchant ship's invitation to try his hand at close-range drifting again. Who knows what kind of monsters might be hiding on a merchant ship? If an enemy were to ambush him like that, he would be in deep trouble.

He shouted to the sailors on the ship, "I got carried away just now and played around with warships and civilian merchant ships. When we get back, I will punish myself by being locked up for three days. As accomplices, you will be locked up for one day. Do you understand?"

Everyone on the ship shouted in unison, "Yes, sir!"

Han Shizhong clicked his tongue in amazement and exclaimed, "Impressive!"

Liang Hongyu also whispered, "Their army is much more disciplined than your Han family army."

Han Shizhong shrugged: "I'm a scoundrel, and the soldiers I train are scoundrels too."

Liang Hongyu said irritably, "You know that, yet you still won't change."

"It's impossible to change!" Han Shizhong said, "I'm too old. It's not easy to change now."

Speaking of Han Shizhong's army, he became melancholic. He could forgive Hu Fang for betraying him, even if he died. But his old comrade Geng Zhuo had been implicated, tortured into confessing to treason. Zhao Gou had spared him, but he certainly wouldn't let Geng Zhuo go. He wondered what had become of Geng Zhuo; perhaps he was already dead. Alas!

Just as Han Shizhong thought of this, a head popped up on the dock. It was Geng Zhu, who waved frantically at Han Shizhong and cried out, "Marshal, Marshal, look over here... It's me, it's me, Geng Zhu!"

Han Shizhong and Liang Hongyu were overjoyed: "Hey? Brother Geng, you're still alive?"

Geng Zhu was in tears: "Alive, alive! The people of the Northern Song Dynasty rescued me and told me to wait for the marshal here."

Han Shizhong was overjoyed. Before the boat had even come to a complete stop, he leaped onto the dock and patted Geng Zhu on the shoulder, laughing loudly, "Good, good, good! Goodness gracious! What methods did the Northern Song Dynasty use to get you out of here too?"

Geng Zhuo looked bewildered: "I don't know how the Northern Song Dynasty managed to rescue me. I only know that Qin Hui was in charge of the execution. He ordered his men to cover the heads of my whole family with cloth, saying that they were being sent to the execution ground to be beheaded. I thought that was the end of it, but when the cloth bags were taken off, my whole family was on the bank of the canal. Jiang Ziliang had already prepared the boat, and then we inexplicably arrived in Chuzhou. I'm still dizzy and don't know how I survived."

Han Shizhong: "It seems that it was Young Master Yue's men who abducted you on the way."

Geng Zhu: "I didn't hear any fighting sounds either."

Han Shizhong: "Drugs! Fall down, fall down!"

Geng Zhu: "Oh, I see."

(End of this chapter)