Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

It turned out that the owner of this shop was Zhao Silang Zhao Zhongming, the neighbor of Pan Jinlian in Zishi Street, Yanggu County, who opened the paper horse shop.

The "Zhao's Book Printing Shop" in Dongchangfu City is apparently the property of Zhao Silang Zhao Zhongming, but it was actually opened by him in cooperation with the official Ximen Qing. The official Ximen Qing invested the most money and is the real master behind the scenes .

Back then in Yanggu County, after buying a group of neighbors in Zishi Street and Lane, and successfully killing Wu Song.Ximenqing made the best use of these neighbors and asked Zhao Silang and Zhao Zhongming to open a new book printing shop in Dongchangfu.

Using the movable type printing technique that Ximen Qing helped him improve, Zhao Zhongming's business quickly started in the Daming Mansion area of ​​Dongchang Prefecture.Various books and Buddhist scriptures need to be printed by "Zhao's Book Printing Shop" every day. Although it is not said to be making money every day, it is also a wealth of money, which has brought Zhao Zhongming a lot of wealth.Of course, more money was continuously sent back to Ximenqing's mansion in Yanggu County, contributing part of the funds for his daily military training and building weapons and armor.

In this "Zhao's Printing Bookstore", there are also a few rogue subordinates of "Fancy Arm" Lu Xiaoyi.There are two main purposes for placing these rogues here.One is to protect the business of the book printing shop, and prevent the thugs from Dongchang Mansion from coveting this good business and coming to trouble Zhao Zhongming.The second is to use this as a secret intelligence base to collect and inquire about various intelligence information in the surrounding area according to the distribution of Ximen Qing's senior officials.

I'm very busy at work today, so I just finished writing a chapter now, and the update is a little late.Continue to write today's Chapter 2, and hope to update it in time tonight.

Chapter 148 Visiting Uncle Purple Beard

For Ximen Qing, this "Zhao Family Printing Shop" is his intelligence station in Dongchang Mansion, Hebei.Of course, Shi Wengong is still an outsider now, so Ximen Qing will naturally not let him know about this situation.Ximen Qing only told him that the owner of this bookstore is his good friend in Yanggu County.

After a feast, everyone settled down in the backyard of the "Zhao's Printing Bookstore".After Ximen Qing was going to rest for one night, he took Shi Wengong to visit the famous veterinarian in Dongchang Prefecture, "Purple Bearded Uncle" Huang Fuduan.

After Shi Wengong went back to his room to rest, Ximenqing summoned the three rogue men who were currently staying in the printing shop in his room.

The three rogues entered the room, and when they saw the official Ximen Qing coming in person, they hurriedly fell to the ground and bowed.Ximen Qing helped the three of them up and praised them one by one.

After exchanging pleasantries, Ximen Qing got back to business, and asked the three hooligans if they knew there was a famous veterinarian in Dongchang Mansion, whose name was Huangfu Duan.

"Report to the official, the villain knows about the veterinarian Huangfu Duan!" A rogue heard Ximen Qing's question, stepped forward, and told the official Ximen Qing all the news about Huangfu Duan that he had inquired about on weekdays. Made a detailed report.

That Huangfuduan was originally a surname from Youzhou, Liao Kingdom, because he was born with blue eyes and yellow beard, and his appearance was like that of a foreigner, so he was called Zibeard uncle.

Huangfu Duan was originally a well-known veterinarian in the city of Dongchang Prefecture. He is good at looking after horses. He knows all kinds of cold and heat diseases of livestock.Someone in Dongchang City wrote a poem praising him: "Heirloom art is invincible, and there is supernatural power in Anji years. It is wonderful to return to life and death, and it is more beneficial to save the tired and help the dangerous."

After hearing what the rascal said, Ximen Qing asked him: "Since you know the origin of this man, do you know where Huangfu Duan's home in the city is?

Na Poppi replied: "Your official, I know the geography of Dongchang City very well. That Huangfuduan lives on West Street, and I know where his residence is."

Ximen Qing smiled and said, "Okay, as expected of the brother brought out by Lu Xiaoyi! Tomorrow morning, you will take me to visit that 'Purple Bearded Uncle' Huangfuduan."

After hearing what the official Ximen Qing said, the rogue took the order and left, and the other two rogues also left the room seeing that the official had no other payment.

After the three rogues left, Ximen Qing called Zhao Silang and Zhao Zhongming into his room.

Ximen Qing first chatted with Zhao Zhongming about the business of the book printing shop, and learned that the books outside are usually printed by engraving, and the cost is relatively high, and the price of the printed books is about double the cost. Therefore, printing books is still a profit now. High business.However, "Zhao's Book Printing Shop" secretly used a more advanced letterpress printing method, which saved a lot of manual engraving costs, but the price was only slightly lower than that of engraving books, which was an astonishing profit.

It is said that the most profitable businesses in the Song Dynasty were medicine shops and road robbery, but now the book printing shop controlled by Ximen Qing is almost as profitable as the herbal medicine shop.

Of course, the senior officials of Ximen still have a side business now, that is, to act chivalrously when they go out, kill those gangsters, and sweep their ill-gotten gains back to Yanggu County.For example, Mengzhou's "Flying Centipede" Wang Daoren, "Mother Yaksha" Sun Erniang and "Vegetable Garden" Zhang Qing, as well as Guanzhou's "Sangmen God" Bao Xu, all provided Ximen Qing with a lot of funds.Ximen Qing called this business "eat black for nothing".

It's a pity that "free eating black", which is more lucrative than highway robbery, can't be done at any time. Everything depends on opportunities, and the income is very unstable.Therefore, the daily expenses depend on Ximen Qing's current various industries.

Ximenqing thought about it, and told Zhao Zhongming about his experience of telling the story of the Three Kingdoms to Wei Dingguo, the regiment training envoy in Lingzhou.Ximen Qing said that the story of the Three Kingdoms he told was very exciting, and it was extremely attractive to people like Wei Dingguo.Therefore, I intend to print these stories into books and sell them at a high price among the rich in various state capitals, and then earn a lot of money.

After hearing this, Zhao Zhongming opened his eyes wide, admiring Ximen Qing.Now printing books for others is already very profitable. If there is an exclusive monopoly content, wouldn't the profits of the printed books be even more impressive?

Zhao Zhongming immediately discussed excitedly with Ximen Qing that he would find a trusted scholar to follow Ximen Qing.Ximen Qing dictated the story and asked the scholar to write it down.Every time a volume is written, it will be handed over to Zhao Zhongming to print a volume, and then quickly push this book of the Three Kingdoms to the prosperous state capitals in various parts of the Song Dynasty.

Ximenqing listened to Zhao Zhongming's words, thought about it carefully, and instilled in him some concepts of "hunger marketing" in modern society.Ximen Qing asked Zhao Zhongming to think about how to control the number of books published and earn a lot of excess profits in the early stage; how to control the market and use the low cost of typography to defeat the opponent when the competitor produced engraved and imitated books for sale. Copybook...

Ximenqing had a long talk with Zhao Zhongming, planned the publication of the book, and decided to implement it after Ximenqing returned to Yanggu County.Before Zhao Zhongming left, he asked the senior official Ximen Qing, what is the name of the book to be published this time?

Ximenqing told Zhao Zhongming without hesitation that the title of the planned book was "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".As for the author, of course it is the knowledgeable Ximen Qing.

Zhao Zhongming sighed that the title of the book was good, and left Ximenqing's room.

Ximen Qing sat in front of the window, staring at the night sky with deep eyes, traveling through time and space in his heart, and said to someone: "Xiao Luo! Let Senior Ximen publish your book first! Anyway, you are full of stories. You can write another romance story of other dynasties! Don’t worry, you won’t starve to death, brat.”

……

After waking up early the next day, Ximen Qing asked the pop belt who was familiar with the geography of Dongchang Mansion to go with Shi Wengong to visit "Purple Bearded Uncle" Huangfuduan.

Unexpectedly, when the three of them arrived outside the residence of "Purple Bearded Uncle" Huangfuduan on the West Street, they were shut down - there was no one in Huangfuduan's house.

Shi Wengong was concerned about the safety of his BMW, and he couldn't help being a little anxious because he couldn't see the legendary famous doctor Huang Fuduan at this moment.He hurried to inquire about Huangfu Duan's neighbors, and learned that "Purple Bearded Uncle" Huang Fu Duan was invited by someone yesterday, left home and did not return overnight.As for where Huangfu Duan has gone and when he will return, the neighbors in the neighborhood don't know.

After hearing what the neighbors said, Shi Wengong sighed, feeling very depressed.

Seeing this, Ximenqing asked Napo to lead the way, and took himself and Shi Wengong to the best restaurant in Dongchang Mansion to have a drink and relax, and then come to the West Street in the afternoon to see if "Purple Bearded Uncle" Huangfuduan has turned around.

Na Poppi said to Ximen Qing: "There is a Huguo Longxing Temple by the canal in Dongchang Mansion, and the incense is very strong. Outside the Huguo Longxing Temple, there is a restaurant called 'Wangyun Tower', which is It is the leading restaurant in Dongchang Mansion. Senior officials, can you go there to have a drink and enjoy the scenery?"

Chapter 149 A Coincidental Encounter Without a Feather Arrow

Ximenqing heard that there was such a good place in Dongchang Mansion, so he asked that Poppi to lead the way to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and visited the very incense-filled Huguo Longxing Temple.

Leading Ximen Qing and Shi Wengong to the outside of the temple, that poppi left.In order to inquire about the news in the market, that poppi needs to hide his identity in a low-key manner, and it is not appropriate to go to the "Wangyun Tower" to drink with the officials of Ximen Qing.

Poppi decided to go back to the West Street of Dongchang Mansion and stay outside the house of "Purple Bearded Uncle" Huangfu Duan. Once he saw Huang Fu Duan returning home, he would immediately rush to the restaurant to report to the official Ximen Qing.

After Poppi's subordinates left, Ximenqing and Shi Wengong entered the Huguo Xinglong Temple together.

After burning a few pillars of incense in the temple and admiring the exquisite Buddha statues and buildings in the temple, Ximenqing and Shi Wengong left the Huguo Xinglong Temple and walked into the "Wangyun Tower" beside the Grand Canal.

Although this "Wangyun Building" is called "Wangyun", it is actually only two stories high, and its scale is far from being comparable to that of Fanlou in Bianliang City, Tokyo.But this restaurant is ornately decorated, with carved beams and painted buildings, it is already considered one of the best restaurants in Dongchang Prefecture, Hebei.

Ximen Qing and Shi Wengong went up to the second floor, occupying a good seat near the river and the window, and the waiter in the distribution shop just brought up good wine and good food.

The waiter in the shop graciously recommended Dongchang Lake stewed fish and some fresh river shrimp and crabs to Ximen Qing and the others, both of which are local specialties of Dongchang Prefecture.

Ximen Qing was very satisfied, and tipped the shop waiter a dime.The shop waiter happily arranged food and drinks for Ximen Qing.

Ximen Qing and Shi Wengong looked at the canal and Dongchang Lake outside the window, and saw the rippling water and the charming scenery.Merchant ships and fishing boats on the water shuttle back and forth, busy and busy, which is a picture of prosperity and peace.

Both Ximen Qing and Shi Wengong were filled with emotion, the city of Dongchang Mansion was peaceful and peaceful, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment.But who would have imagined that, after leaving Fucheng, to the Kushu Mountain, which is only a day's journey away, the local scene is completely different from this place.

Shi Wengong sighed: "Since our dynasty reached the Chanyuan alliance with the Liao Kingdom, it has been called a country of brothers. The Song and Liao countries have been at peace for a hundred years, and the imperial court's forbidden army in Hebei has not fought for a long time, so it is completely abolished. The guards stationed in Dongchang Mansion and Na Guanzhou can only maintain the law and order around the city of the state capital, but they are powerless against the hundreds of robbers on the Dry Tree Mountain, it is really useless!"

Ximen Qing said: "If it weren't for the ineffectiveness of the government army in suppressing the bandits, how could there be bandits rampant in Shandong and Hebei? Why does Zengtou City, where Brother Shi lives, need to raise thousands of horses to protect itself? Brother Shi, the government army at this time Weak and thieves are swarming, it is time for you and my brother to train the country soldiers and do heroic deeds. With Brother Shi's great talent, his reputation in the future will surely resound throughout the land of Hebei!"

After listening to Ximen Qing's words, Shi Wengong felt quite self-satisfied. He looked at Ximen Qing and laughed, and said, "Brother Ximen is also wise and brave. In the future, you, Ximenbao, should keep in touch with me, Zengtoushi, and support each other. !"

While talking, the waiter in the shop had arranged several fish, shrimp, fruit and vegetable products, and sifted wine for Ximen Qing and the two of them.Ximen Qing and Shi Wengong ate fine wine and savored the local seasonal lake delicacies.

The two had a drink for a while, when they heard footsteps coming from the stairs, and several people came up from downstairs.Ximen Qing glanced at it casually, and couldn't help but be taken aback, secretly thinking that there can be such a coincidence, right?

I saw a total of four people who came upstairs, the first one was seven feet long, young and handsome, with a tiger's back and a wolf's waist, with a heroic spirit.Behind that person, followed by two men about eight feet in length, but they both described strangely.

One of them rolled up his sleeves and opened his chest, revealing his tiger spots.There is also a tiger's head tattooed on his neck, which is very eye-catching.The other had scars on his face and neck, and he looked quite scary.The appearance of these two people, it seems that they are either rascals in the city, or desperate murderers in the rivers and lakes, in short, they are not good people.The two of them formed a stark contrast with the young man with red lips and white teeth in front of them, and they really got along well with each other.

Behind these two big men, there was another person following, but that person was born with an extraordinary appearance.I saw him with blue eyes and heavy pupils, and a long beard over his belly. Although he was dressed in Song Dynasty clothes, his appearance was too much like a barbarian in the northwest.

Seeing the faces of these four people, Ximen Qing secretly guessed in his heart, and couldn't help pricking up his ears to eavesdrop on what these four people were saying.