Chapter 29

"Whether to buy or not is one thing, let me try it on for the young master first to see the effect." The shopkeeper enthusiastically put the corner scarf on Wang Yang, then looked him up and down and sighed: "Suitable, suitable! Simply too suitable! White lined clothes, blue corner scarf, now just missing a blue cloud skirt."

At that time, when wearing clothes, the upper garment and lower skirt were worn. Although there were trousers, the trousers used for outer wear were usually paired with a short upper garment called a "jacket," collectively called "trousers and jacket."

Trousers were divided into crotch trousers "kun" and open-crotch trousers "ku." Aristocrats were accustomed to covering their kun with skirts or skirts, and exposing the kun was regarded as impolite or indecent behavior.

And like Wang Yang, wearing the crotch trousers given by Captain Xue directly on the outside, or "kun," is the dress of ordinary commoners.

The shopkeeper took out the blue cloud skirt: "This is ramie-spun cloth. Although it is not as fine as Yue cloth, it is also a top-grade material! Just four hundred coins. Young master, try it, just once!"

Wang Yang waved his hand to refuse and was about to take off the corner scarf when the strong man suddenly said: "The little one thinks it is just right for the young master to wear this. If the young master is satisfied, let's buy it all."

The strong man slapped his waist knife in front of the shopkeeper: "Look closely, this is the ring-headed knife made by the Jingzhou workshop when the Prince of Yuzhang was the Inspector. I'll pledge it to you first to cover the cost of this scarf and skirt. It won't be a loss for you."

The workshop is the official agency responsible for forging weapons.

Wang Yang noticed that when the strong man mentioned the Prince of Yuzhang, he bowed his hands to the upper right, just like the Lisi earlier.

"This is a Yuzhang staff?" The shopkeeper picked up the knife in surprise, touched the scabbard, and drew the blade to examine it carefully.

When Prince Xiao Yi of Yuzhang was the Inspector of Jingzhou, it was the most glorious moment for Jingzhou.

At that time, the post of Southern Barbarian Captain had not yet been abolished. The Prince of Yuzhang concurrently controlled the two major military prefectures of Jingzhou and the Southern Barbarian Mansion, and was the Inspector of the two major provinces of Jingzhou and Xiangzhou. All expenses were transported by the imperial court, and the support was prosperous. In other words, he brought strong capital to transfuse blood to Jingzhou.

So at that time, whether it was grain prices or taxes, they were the lowest since modern times. As a result, cheap grain hurt farmers, so it was specially permitted for farmers to use grain instead of tax money. It also exempted all taxes owed by everyone in the territory before.

So even though the Prince of Yuzhang had left Jingzhou for a long time, he was still respected and loved by the people of Jingzhou.

Because the Prince of Yuzhang was not short of money, the materials used to make weapons were also the best. To quell the barbarian rebellion, the Prince of Yuzhang even sent people to the workshop to supervise the work. The quality of the weapons produced was excellent, and people called this batch of weapons "Yuzhang staff," which was very famous.

"You wouldn't be a soldier, would you?" The shopkeeper looked at the strong man suspiciously.

The strong man didn't change his expression: "Of course not, otherwise I wouldn't want my life, daring to pledge a military knife?"

Selling a knife as a soldier is a capital crime, which is also the reason why the strong man didn't count this knife when he was raising money. Now he has figured it out: if he can't pay back the money in three days, the role of keeping this knife is just to fight to the death with Master Du San, and the final result can be foreseen. So there is not much difference between having a knife and not having one.

Besides, he witnessed Wang Yang borrowing two thousand coins in a very short time, so he believed in Wang Yang's ability even more.

This is like the bet he told Ding Jiu about. Since he has already bet his life on Wang Yang, it doesn't matter if he loses a knife.

Wang Yang wanted to stop the strong man, but the strong man preempted him and said to the shopkeeper: "It's a deal, this knife is temporarily pledged to you. I will bring money to redeem the knife within three days."

"If you don't come after three days..."

"Then the knife belongs to you!"

"Good, words are not proof, let's write a note."

After the two left the shop, Wang Yang said: "Actually, there was no need to pledge the knife."

The strong man said: "Although the little one doesn't know what the young master wants to do, I can feel that the young master has a very planned way of doing things, which can be seen from asking me to buy flour earlier. So since the young master looked at the corner scarf, there must be a reason for it."

Wang Yang patted the strong man: "Don't call yourself 'the little one' in front of me in the future."

The strong man was a little terrified: "The little one doesn't dare!"

"I ordered it, what's there not to dare? In front of outsiders, it's the same as before; when it's just the two of us, it's not necessary."

The strong man had long seen the difference between this young master and others, and didn't act coy. He immediately clasped his fists and said: "Thank you, Young Master!"

Although it was just a permission for the title, the strong man felt that the relationship between the two was closer.

"The Prince of Yuzhang's reputation in Jingzhou is very good, right." Wang Yang probed.

"Of course, when the Prince of Yuzhang managed Jingzhou, our camp ate wheat rice every day, and we were also given rice, authentic rice, white rice! That taste was really..." The strong man smacked his lips, as if recalling the taste of white rice.

"How does the current Inspector compare to the Prince of Yuzhang?" Although Wang Yang trusted the strong man, there must be a limit to trust. Since he was disguised as the Wang clan of Langya, he couldn't directly ask who the Prince of Yuzhang was, so he could only take this chatty way to probe.

"This little... I can't say well. I don't understand big things either. But rice prices and cloth prices have soared recently, and the barbarians are also very rampant," the strong man lowered his voice when he said this, "I heard that a month ago, the barbarians also raided the Cao Gonglin outpost, and more than thirty people died, but the superiors suppressed the news and didn't make it public. If the Prince of Yuzhang were here, such a thing would absolutely not happen."

"So this Inspector is not supported by the people?"

"That's not it either. After all, the Prince was raised by the Prince of Yuzhang. Everyone remembers the Prince of Yuzhang's affection and is very willing for him to manage Jingzhou. Besides, the Prince is skilled in martial arts, strong as a god, and can pull a four-hu bow. Who in the whole army doesn't respect him?"

Prince? Why is there another Prince?

That's right, the Southern Dynasties have always had the system of "Clan Princes guarding the towns," that is, sending clan princes to guard one side. It seems that the current Jingzhou Inspector is also a Prince.

But why is this Prince said to have been raised by the Prince of Yuzhang?

The strong man didn't doubt him and asked: "Young Master, where are we going now?"

Wang Yang put his doubts aside for the time being, put his hands behind his back, and said: "County school."

There are two county schools in Jingzhou: one is the local official school of Jingzhou, and the other is the "Wang Guan School" established by the Prince of Yuzhang.

Not to mention that the Wang Guan School has the background of the Prince of Yuzhang, just saying that the host is a noble family like the Wang clan of Langya—the Liu clan of Hedong, Wang Yang is unwilling to start from this place.

First, he is worried about the arrogance and exclusion here, and second, it is also his lack of confidence in his own identity disguise.

So Wang Yang set his goal on the local official school from the beginning.

The official school is located in the northwest old city area, and the school buildings and ponds cover a considerable area. Street vendors are not allowed to shout or make noise in the surrounding streets,

making people feel solemn and respectful as soon as they approach.

The two asked for directions and arrived at the gate of the county school. They saw that under a ginkgo tree that three people could hug, the black-lacquered gate was half-hidden. A long couch was blocked in front of the gate, and a youth was sitting on the couch, holding a book, reading intently.

The youth was wearing a long robe with curved hems and a black high crown on his head. Wang Yang recognized at a glance that this was the Confucian clothing of the so-called "scholarly clothing" and "official crown" in ancient times.

This person is a Confucian scholar!

The so-called assisting the world and clarifying education, nothing is more important than Confucian arts. The foundation of Confucian arts, nothing is more important than the Five Classics.

The study of the Five Classics is called "Classics study."

Although Metaphysics and Buddhism flourished during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the official school always took Classics study as its profession and never wavered in the slightest.

It is not strange that there are Confucian scholars wearing Confucian clothes in front of the county school gate.

What is strange is that there is a couch in front of the gate. Could it be some custom he doesn't understand?

Wang Yang stepped forward and said: "May I ask—"

"Coming to see the Libationer?" The Confucian scholar asked casually, but his eyes did not leave the book.

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Note: ① Although Confucian clothing had changes and developments compared to the pre-Qin period at this time, the clothing was still a long garment connected from top to bottom (anciently called "deep clothing"), and the hat was a black crown (the so-called black cloth crown). These two foundations remained unchanged. Plus, it was at the gate of the county school, so Wang Yang could recognize it as Confucian clothing at a glance.

② Cao Gonglin is in the northeast of Jingzhou City. Legend has it that it was the place where Cao Cao stationed troops. *Taiping Yulan* quotes *Record of Jiangling* as saying: "Twelve miles northeast of the state city is Cao Gonglin. Legend has it that in the 13th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao followed Liu Bei to Changban in Dangyang and returned to station in this forest, so it is called Cao Gonglin."