After Zhang Hu received the order, he immediately rushed to the Southern Song Dynasty with his deputy envoy Aliban and his entourage. Along the way, Xiaoxing stayed overnight, and came to the realm of the Great Song Dynasty, at the Xuanhua ferry in Zhenzhou, the Song Dynasty had already sent Zhang Gongdan, the Zhengqing of Honglu Temple, to greet the envoys of the Jin State here, and arranged to cross the river.

Zhang Gongdan and Zhang Hu met, the two sides said hard work to each other, and said a few words, and then Zhang Gongdan told the delegation of the Jin State and other people to get on the boat, immediately set anchor and set sail, and sailed towards the center of the river. After crossing the Yangtze River, the boat did not dock, but followed the water trend, turned into the Qinhuai River, and drove along the river in the direction of Jiankang City.

Zhang Hu stood at the bow of the boat, facing the river breeze sent from the water, looking at the Qinhuai River, only to see the boats and sails in full costume, shuttling back and forth, but also mixed with a lot of colorful boats, rippling on the river, and the two boats passed by each other, you can also clearly hear the sound of silk and bamboo wind music from the cabin, the music is lingering, and the singing is lingering; The reflection of the willows on both sides of the river, the crowd is bustling and noisy. Near the wharf, there was a trumpet of boatmen, agitating the white sails.

And Zhang Gongdan accompanied him at the bow of the boat, pointing and introducing the attractions along the way. The southwest city wall of Jiankang City is built along the Qinhuai River, so the Qinhuai River is also equivalent to the southwest moat of Jiankang. According to etiquette, the Jin delegation should go due south to Jubaomen, so the ships went south along the Qinhuai River, passing through Yifeng Gate, Dinghuai Gate, Qingliang Gate, Sanshan Gate and other places along the way.

The ship traveled all the way for more than three hours, and did not arrive at Jubaomen until nearly dusk in the afternoon, and the delegation of the Jin Kingdom disembarked and entered Jiankang City under the guidance of Zhang Gongdan.

This is the second time that Zhang Hu has come to this ancient city, known as the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties. As early as when the Jin army was marching south, Zhang Hu, as Wanyan Changzhi's staff, arrived at Jiankang City with the army. However, at that time, it was a time of war and the market was very depressed, although Zhang Hu was shocked by the long history and vicissitudes of Jiankang, but he did not see the prosperous side of Jiankang.

A group of people entered the city from Jubaomen, marched along the South Gate Street, only to see the figures of people and animals everywhere on the street, the flow of people was like a tide, ordinary civilians wearing rough clothes and pants and straw sandals, scholars wearing long collars and big sleeves, wide robes and shoes, blue eyes and purple hair, rhinoplasty and concave eyes, white scarves wrapped around their heads, and gold rings in their ears, as well as Dongying and Goryeo guests who were strangely dressed and looked like different images, in short, all kinds of people and so on could be seen everywhere.

On both sides of the street, merchants trade to make money, dignitaries take prostitutes to the spring, literati enjoy flowers and seek poetry, beggars beg for food, pickpockets are reckless, "singles" are selling, "blind" is fortune-telling, post houses hold signs to attract customers, restaurants are selling wine and buying names, ** tea sets up, geisha make love and sell sounds, prodigal sons hang out, spy on the wind, princes look for flowers and ask willows, and inkmen sell paintings to make a living. The small traders and vendors who set up stalls on the street are preparing to close their stalls, while the goulan tile shops of the buildings on both sides are entering the peak period of business and ushering in the delivery, which is indeed a prosperous scene.

Zhang Hu couldn't help but sigh in his heart, if you talk about the scale and layout of the city, the momentum is magnificent and vast, and the Zhongdu is not inferior to Jiankang, but the prosperity of this street and the prosperity of commerce are far inferior to Zhongdu.

And this kind of prosperity is not what was said in the past, the kind of decadent and extravagant, drunk and dreamy scene, Zhang Hu paid attention to the pedestrians on the street, and paid attention to the faces of those ordinary people, all of them were joyful and joyful, overflowing with words, this kind of Ming Jiankang's people's livelihood is rich and socially stable. Among the people walking on the street, the proportion of scarves and arrow sleeves, swords and swords on their backs, and samurai attire accounts for a lot, and even if they are people dressed as writers, there are also many people who hang a sword as decoration, which also means that the martial arts style of the Southern Song Dynasty is gradually declining, and it can no longer be regarded as weak.

Zhang Gongdan led Zhang Hu and his party to the pavilion and arranged a place for them. Then he told Zhang Hu that in three days, the Great Song Emperor would meet with the envoys of the Jin State. Zhang Hu also nodded to Zhang Gongdan, and Zhang Gongdan said goodbye and went back to the palace to hand over the order.

Early the next morning, Zhang Hu took off his official uniform, changed into a long-sleeved gown, and walked around the street with his deputy envoy Aliban and six servants, also wanting to check the social customs of Jiankang.

The first two envoys to the Song Dynasty, are Ali Ban as envoys, so he is a little familiar with the streets of Jiankang, under his leadership, a group of people in the streets and alleys of Jiankang walked back and forth for a day, several lively places in Jiankang City have been turned around, through this careful observation, Zhang Hu further found that the situation in Jiankang is stable, and there is no indication that in more than seven months, there has been a city-wide turmoil here. This shows that Zhao Chen's rule is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and ordinary turmoil cannot shake the foundation at all.

Zhang Hu was originally a merchant, so he was interested in the market where commerce and trade were concentrated, and it was also the place where he traveled for the longest time, and he had to stop and watch for a while at almost every stall, and asked about the prices of many goods, and bought ten items. Then he took everyone to the wharf, and visited several commercial houses in a row to inquire about the price and inspect the quality of the goods. This is Zhang Hu's old business, and the clothes are gorgeous, and with a lot of people, plus what he says is insider's words, even went to several commercial houses, did not arouse suspicion, and two commercial houses thought that it was a big master to come to the door, and the reception was very courteous.

Although Aliban and the others didn't understand Zhang Hu's intentions, they didn't dare to ask more, so they could only follow him everywhere.

Unconsciously, the group ran for almost a day, and saw that it was about to go west again, and the group was also hungry and numb, and their legs were sore, so under the guidance of Aliban, they came to a restaurant that looked quite luxurious.

Ali Ban said: "My lord, the officials of this restaurant have been here twice, and the wine has done well, and the sky is not early, so we will have dinner here and then go back to the pavilion." ”

Zhang Hu nodded and said with a smile: "Okay, you have been with me for a day, and you are all tired, I will make this meal, please eat a meal." As he spoke, he led the way into the hotel.

Although Zhang Hu and Aliban are both dressed as writers, they are gorgeously dressed, and both of them have been officials in the court for a long time, and they have their own style of being the top of the hierarchy between their gestures, and among the six retinues, two are writers Ding Congren, and the other four are samurai. The guys in the restaurant are all people who are good at observing words and feelings, and at first glance they look like two rich and noble sons, who have nothing to do, and travel with their family bodyguards. Therefore, he did not dare to slack off, and immediately came up to greet them, asked them if they wanted to eat, and very politely let them sit on the second floor.

There were not many diners in the restaurant, so they chose two window seats to sit down. The eight people were divided into two tables, Zhang Hu and Aliban were one table, and the six entourages were one table, and they ordered a few of the hotel's signature dishes, and also rewarded the guy with dozens of dollars. The man went down happily, and in a short time the food and wine were served.

At this time, it was time to eat, and the diners in the restaurant gradually increased, and it became lively. The guests staggered, punched, talked and laughed.

Zhang Hu listened attentively to the discussions at the adjacent tables, and the content was also different, some people commented on the government and politics, some pointed fingers at the war, and some talked about ways to get rich.

However, Zhang Hu paid close attention to the observation, and it seemed that there were not many scribes present. Then it occurred to me that there were far fewer scribes on the streets today than when I entered the city yesterday. I couldn't help but say to Aliban: "Have you noticed, there are not many Confucian scholars on the street today!" ”

Aliban also said: "My lord, I also found that there is something wrong, when I came here to eat twice, almost all the people here were Confucians. Today it seems to be much less, I don't know why? ”

Zhang Hu nodded, immediately beckoned the shopkeeper over, and asked, "Man, I remember that when I came here yesterday, this restaurant was almost full of scribes, why is there much less today, could it be that there is something?" ”

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