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Text 406.Tea House

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    Xia Houjin and his party of twelve people either pretended to be single businessmen or knights who defected to the Yuan Dynasty, and dispersed into Luoyang.  Nowadays, there is an endless stream of these two types of people coming to Luoyang, and the twelve dead soldiers are among them without being conspicuous at all, and they all successfully received the Yuan Kingdom's waistband.  Although they are dead soldiers, it would be good if a few people could escape after the incident. Yuan State has waist card control, so it is much safer to enter separately.  Although they had all arrived in Luoyang for the first time, they had been there before, and the two guesthouses they stayed in were only half a mile apart.  After settling in, Xia Houjin asked Lu Kuang to stay in the guest house peacefully. He and Cao Cheng, Li Ji, and Gong Cheng, four people pretending to be merchants, went out separately to inquire about the news. Every day, one of them would rotate the bronze camel in front of the palace gate.  Selling goods on the street (Note 1), try to see if you can seize the opportunity.  Among the dead soldiers, Cao Cheng was from the Cao clan, Li Ji was originally from the Cao clan, and Gong Cheng was originally from the Xiahou clan. All three of them had served as agents in the army and were the best at gathering intelligence; Lu Kuang had recently joined the army.  A strong general, a member of the Lu clan of the Qingzhou Plain, an eighth-grade family, a strong man, good at making Changzhui (Note 2), and the deputy leader of this assassin team.  Going deep into the enemy's territory to assassinate the opponent's leader did not require Guo Jia to explain repeatedly. Xia Houjin and others all knew that they must carefully investigate and plan beforehand, and patiently look for opportunities. There should be no urgency.  Previous detailed research revealed that Deng Muan would go to people's homes to visit and talk. This was the only time. In order not to disturb the people's homes, he brought few guards with him. It was just up to him to decide when and where he would go to people's homes for Deng Mu'an's safety.  Difficult to judge. ??????? Every day, people walk around Tongtuo Street, but they don¡¯t dare to get too close to the palace gate.  On the contrary, I found that Deng Ji left the palace seven or eight times, and followed him secretly from afar, mostly to the homes of the Chinese and military warriors in the court. To maintain the dignity of the Yuan Emperor, there were hundreds of guards and soldiers coming and going, and they were so crowded that they had no chance to move their hands.  .  The only time he took more than ten guards to a common people's home, he returned to the palace not long after. When Deng Ji entered the palace gate, Lu Kuang had just rushed out of the guest house after waiting for the news to be dispatched.  As the king of a country.  Deng Ji was not completely unwary. He was a guest in people's homes for a short time, so it was not easy to follow and assassinate him. It was completely unrealistic for twelve people to ambush outside the palace gate at all times.  However, according to the only time Deng Ji left the palace to attend to family matters.  Xia Houjin and others made the same judgment as Guo Jia. If the approximate destination and time were known, the chance of success would be great.  But how easy is this?     Do it all at once, second time tired, third time exhausted.  Xia Houjin wanted to play it safe.  As time passed, Lu Kuang became impatient and became impatient in the guest house. During the secret discussion, he proposed that if he really couldn't find a good opportunity, he could risk his life to attack Deng Ji when he left the palace to go to the homes of civil and military officials.  .  After rejecting Lu Kuang¡¯s proposal, which had almost no chance of success, Xia Houjin and four others continued to work hard to find out in Luoyang City. They conducted unannounced visits among the people in recent months. Finally, it was Li Ji who made the first change.  When he entered the Yuan Dynasty, his bags contained lead powder, so Li Ji pretended to be a cosmetics powder merchant.  Cosmetics for folk women in this era.  In addition to rouge, most homemade makeup powders are usually made by precipitating rice juice or millet juice and then exposing it to the sun to form a powder, which is called rice flour or corn flour. If you add some spices to it, it becomes fragrant powder, which is already a high-end product.  The lead powder sold by Li Ji is made of lead, tin, aluminum, etc., also known as Hu powder. It has a fine texture and a white color, and is indeed very popular among women.  However, because the price is higher, thrifty housewives are reluctant to buy it. They only want to use homemade ones, and only a few wealthy people buy them.  Under the rule of Henan, more and more people are getting rich.  In troubled times, luxury goods such as rouge, lead powder, brocade silk, porcelain, and cane sugar that were difficult to sell elsewhere have been shipped by merchants of all sizes.  Li Ji walked around the streets selling lead powder. Whenever he met an elderly person at home, he would behave like a chatterbox and induce the other person to chat with him for a while.  Deng Ji started from a young age, and Li Ji traveled a lot, and he actually bumped into several families who knew Emperor Dayuan.  From the mouths of these old men and women, we gradually learned some related things, but most of them were useless, such as the old story of worshiping his mother in Shehou Kingdom, Deng Muan had personally visited his home, the age of his children, and the incompatibility of his wives and concubines.  Waiting for something.  Li Ji once paid special attention to two families, both of which had daughters working as female officials in the palace. Unfortunately, these two families were tight-lipped and did not come up with any useful information. They were afraid that the questions would be too blunt and arouse suspicion, so they had to give up and ask Xia Houjin again.  Cao Cheng and others came to the door one after another, but found nothing.  As September was winding down, Li Ji met a really chatty old man during a visit. The two chatted in front of his house for most of the day. Under Li Ji's deliberate guidance, the old man divulged many recent stories about the palace and the court.  The thing, after guessing it, is probably true, which is far better than what was found before.  Li Ji immediately cheered up. During the discussion, he knew that the old man's two sons were both civilians, so he pretended to be unhappy: "Although I am not a popular businessman, I am also a decent person. Why should I lie to each other?"  The old man glared and said displeased: "I have always been sincere, how could I even say a few words?"Fake?  " "What I said is all about the affairs of the court, how can the common people hear it?  Or maybe my father-in-law still has relatives in the court?  " The old man exhaled softly and asked, "Hey!  Do you know about drinking tea?  " Drinking tea? Li Ji thought about it and hesitated: "I have heard a little bit that tea is a detoxification medicine. Monks used it instead of wine. The drinking method was obtained by the Han royal family. It was once listed as a tribute, and it was a precious thing.  " "You know a lot!  The old man laughed and said, "The Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty ordered the craftsmen to modify the tea. It is not like the Emperor of the Han Dynasty who kept it secretly and promoted it to the public. In just a few months, many civil and military officials in the court gradually became accustomed to drinking it, and the people could also have it."  Drink, it¡¯s just that the quantity is small and it¡¯s difficult to sell it in large quantities.  Zheng Zhi, a small official in Yushitai, who deserves credit for his merits, set up a teahouse in the middle of Luobin Street three months ago to sell tea. It was a good place for recreation. There were many people gathering there, and there were also officials who frequented it. I went there when I had nothing to do.  I heard everything I said in a teahouse, so it¡¯s not an empty boast!  " Li Jie thought to himself, it was opened three months ago, no wonder not much is known about it. Part of Luoshui flows through the city of Luoyang and then flows out. Although Luobin Street is a thoroughfare in the city, it is located on the bank of Luoshui, already adjacent to the south  The city wall and others only wanted to be close to the imperial palace in the north of Luoyang City. It was too far away and they had not explored it carefully. If they had not heard the old man mention it today, they would not have known that there was such a place where officials in the court could spend time to find out information.  Isn't it better to talk to someone and talk like a headless fly on the street every day? After leaving the old man, Li Ji hurried back to find Xia Houjin and informed him of the matter. The next day, Cao Cheng stayed at Tongtuo Street.  Xia Houjin, Li Ji, and Gong Cheng all went to the south of the city. After walking twice on Luobin Road, they discovered that the three-story teahouse was facing Luoshui. It was different from other shops in the south of Luobin Road.  The door actually does not face the north road, but opens to the west. There is a small piece of flat land in front of the door. You have to turn a few steps into the flat ground to see it. The cloth banner outside simply carries the word "ming". If you don't pay attention, you will think it is there.  It was just a residential building. There were a lot of people coming in and out. The three of them stayed on the road for a little while. Dozens of people came in and out of the tea house, mostly craftsmen and civilians, but also a few officials and outsiders like them.  After several people discussed it, Li Ji was the first to enter the teahouse to check out. The business method of the teahouse was still very novel in this era. As soon as Li Ji entered the teahouse hall door, he saw the south side.  There are no walls, only a few large windows. When they are fully opened, the scenery of Luoshui is right in front of you. There is enough light in the hall, and it is ventilated to dispel the heat and gas smell in the hall. The hall on the first floor is very spacious, but there are no guests.  There are a lot of them, maybe forty or fifty. They are a bit crowded. Judging by their clothes, they are probably just ordinary farmers, with the occasional two small businessmen from out of town. After a quick glance, the layout of the hall is also strange, and there are no seats.  , there are only many long hanging wooden strips nailed in the center of the wall. The guests squatted on the wooden strips in various comfortable postures and chatted with each other. There was a celadon bowl at hand for each person on the wooden strips.  What should be inside is tea. There are unique stoves in Sizhou in the northeast and southwest corners. On a hot day, both stoves are burning, with water vapor rising from them. There is wood under the east wall.  The stairs to the second floor go up from there. Li Ji is a meticulous person and is very sensitive to abnormalities. After he entered, many guests glanced at him, and most of them looked away immediately, but some looked at him for a long time.  He seemed to be paying special attention to the white sign on his waist. But after he entered the hall, no one came to greet him. He couldn't figure out how to drink tea while standing in front of the hall.  Looking a little at a loss, the white-headed old farmer who was closest among the guests asked aloud: "Have you come to the teahouse first?"  " "Of course!  "Finally rescued, Li Ji quickly replied: "I heard that tea is sold here, which is rare in the world, so I came here to try it!  If the result is extraordinary, also seek to do something beneficial.  "There was almost no tea production in the Yuan Dynasty, but there were more and more people who liked it. I heard that there was a lot of tea in the south of the Yangtze River, and there was also tea in Hanzhong. If you buy it and sell it, you will definitely make a profit."  "The old man responded to him, then reached out and pointed at the wooden cabinet under the stairs on the east wall. Li Ji had actually seen it before. There were several large stacks of celadon bowls on it. He looked at it with a look of confusion. The old man laughed and said: "  There is no one on the first floor of this shop. The tea is in the pot. The waiter only takes half an hour to change the tea and add coal and water. Those who want to drink tea take their own bowls and put their money into the cupboard. Each person has one coin, no matter how much they drink.  .  Those who want to get the best tea can go to the second floor, which is only ten times more expensive!  " Li Ji hurriedly saluted and said, "Thank you, elder, for telling me!  " Then he went to get the bowl, only to see a small round hole on the counter, and there was an enthusiastic guide next to him: "Just put the money into the hole!  " Li Ji took a copper coin and threw it down. He went to the stove to pick up a pot and poured water. The water was just yellow in color and there was no tea in it. He followed other people's example and found a place to sit on the wooden strips, blowing the water from the cold celadon bowl.  Water, drink it hesitantly?, it only tastes bitter and astringent, strangely like drinking medicine, and I frowned immediately. After a while, it seemed to have a sweet taste to stimulate body fluids and refresh me, and my brows relaxed again.  Note 1: Tongtuo Street is named after two bronze camels cast by the Han Dynasty facing each other beside the road. It runs north-south, connecting the Han Palace Gate in the north and the Xiaoyuan Gate in the south. It is the north-south axis of Luoyang City in the Han Dynasty and is the most famous.  Busy area.  Volume 158 of "Taiping Yulan" quotes Jin Luji's "Luoyang Records": "There is a Bronze Camel Street in Luoyang. There are two bronze camels made in the Han Dynasty. They are opposite Sihui Road in the south of the palace. As the saying goes: 'All the wise men gathered outside the Golden Horse Gate.  "The Young Man in the First Collection of Tongtuo Mo", later written by Luobin Street was fabricated by the author.  Note 2: Changzhui originally refers to the vertebrae with long handles, and the vertebrae is the hammer. The long vertebrae in the history books mostly refers to the black iron hammer. The weight of the hammer is about fifty kilograms, and the hammer is more than one meter long. It was a weapon that began to appear during the Warring States Period.  Mostly used for personal defense and raids.  (Back at school, I connected the power lines in the village for two days and rectified them. The tiger fainted. Today I slept until 2 o'clock in the middle of the night. I turned on the light and saw that the electricity was coming. I quickly got up and modified and updated the previous ones intermittently. When I looked at the time, okay, it was not until midnight.  It¡¯s only 15 minutes before five o¡¯clock. At this time, I am tearfully asking for this month¡¯s monthly tickets and recommended votes) (~^~)
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