Chapter 1319: Carrying Forward the Past and Opening the Future (IX) Celebration (Part 1)

Ding Shang came to Jicheng from Cangzhou two years ago. In Cangzhou, he owned a silk shop. When he arrived in Jicheng, he continued to do his old business and rented a storefront in the city to do his old business. With the expansion of Jicheng, the location of his shop changed from a somewhat remote area to one of the most prosperous commercial areas. With the breakthroughs in silk reeling and satin weaving technology in the past two years, the price of silk has dropped sharply. In addition, in the Han Dynasty, there are no restrictions on the wearing of clothes like in other countries. More and more rich Han people wear silk. Ding Shang's business is much better than before. He used to work alone, but now he has hired two helpers.

Ding Shang is just over 40 this year. In the eyes of ordinary people, he is a successful person. Although he is a little old, he is alone and very rich. Naturally, he has become a hot commodity in the eyes of many people. Many matchmakers came to propose marriage, but to everyone's surprise, all proposals were rejected by Ding Shang.

Although Ding Shang runs a silk and satin shop, his clothes are usually very ordinary. But today, Ding Shang put on a silk and satin jacket for the first time. The two assistants usually live in the shop. At this time, they also helped Ding Shang button up the jacket, tie the belt, and brought a velvet hat for Ding Shang to wear.

After getting dressed, Ding Shang smiled at the two assistants, patted their shoulders, turned around, opened the door, and walked out.

"Oh, Boss Ding, it's really strange today. You are dressed so well? I haven't seen you dress like this in previous years!" Just as he stepped out of the door, he heard a familiar voice.

Ding Shang looked back at Yi Anlin, the boss of the silk and satin business next door, who was looking at him with a smile on his face.

"Today is a special day!" Ding Shang said with a smile, "Of course we have to dress better, isn't it the same for Boss Yi?"

Yi Anlin laughed: "Yes, yes, this is the first celebration since the founding of our Han Dynasty. I heard that the king will come out at that time. To be honest. For ordinary people like us, there are not many opportunities to see the king in this life. Naturally, we have to dress better. Maybe the king can see us. If we don't dress well, it will inevitably disappoint the king!"

"With so many people, how can the king see us?" Ding Shang shook his head.

"With one heart!" Yi Anlin patted Ding Shang's shoulder, Ding Shang's body trembled, and his shoulders collapsed.

"What's wrong with Boss Ding?" Yi Anlin looked at him strangely.

"No, no, my shoulders have been a little sore these days. Boss Yi has a strong hand, and I can't stand it when he pats me!" Ding Shang explained.

"Oh, so, then Boss Ding should be more careful,

See a doctor as soon as possible, it's cold, it will be troublesome if it turns into an old disease."

"Yes, yes, but I can't find a doctor these two days!" Ding Shang said with a smile.

"That's true." Yi Anlin said with a smile.

The two of them walked towards the assembly point, talking and laughing all the way. This time the celebration parade is based on blocks. After the people allowed to participate in the parade in a block gather together, they set off together. When they arrived at the assembly point, it was already crowded. However, Ding Shang only took a look and his face changed drastically.

Because two railings have been erected there, one after another people are being checked there before entering the street in front.

"Strange. Why do you have to be checked?" Yi Anlin said to himself, turning his head to look at Ding Shang, "Boss Ding. What's wrong with you? You look a little bad?"

"My shoulder hurts a little." Ding Shang whispered.

"It's okay."

"Nothing!" Ding Shang gritted his teeth and followed Yi Anlin closely.

In front, Li Xu from the National Security Bureau was holding a big dog in his hand, standing by the fence, staring at the people who were being checked one by one. This block is the old street of Jicheng. The permanent residents living here have lived in Jicheng for at least two years. There was no such strict security check, but last night, he suddenly received a notice from his superiors that all people participating in the parade must undergo security checks before setting off, and he was affiliated with a special department of the National Security Bureau.

The big dog in his hand was very quiet all the time, lying on the ground, with his eyes half open and half closed, as if he had not woken up yet.

Ding Shang walked to the fence and raised his hands high. A soldier fumbled up and down and nodded to indicate that he could go through. Ding Shang breathed a sigh of relief, stepped over the fence, walked inside, and when he walked in front of the big dog, he took a curious look at the huge dog.

At this moment, the big dog that looked half dead suddenly stood up, whimpering, and stood up on its front legs, with its two legs on Ding Shang's body.

Ding Shang was caught off guard and fell to the ground. Before he could react, Li Xu had already widened his eyes and shouted, "Hold him, hold him."

Although several soldiers didn't understand why, they still rushed over as quickly as possible and held down the struggling Ding Shang's legs and feet.

"Sir, sir, this is Ding Shang from our block, an old neighbor, what's wrong?" Yi Anlin behind Ding Shang was shocked by this sudden change and turned pale. He watched the big dog's tongue sweeping across Ding Shang's face, fearing that the beast would bite him.

Li Xu ignored Yi Anlin's shouting and groped around Ding Shang's body for a long time. He found nothing, and his face was filled with confusion. But the big dog still clung to Li Shang's body, whining and moaning. He bit Ding Shang's jacket and kept tearing it.

Li Xu's mind lit up, he pulled out the knife with a choking sound, and with a squeak, he cut open the satin of Ding Shang's coat and tore it apart suddenly.

Seeing Li Xu's actions, Ding Shang closed his eyes in despair.

Among the thick cotton wool in the coat, packages of things were carefully sewn into it. Li Xu tore off a small package, put it between his nose and smelled it, and his expression suddenly changed.

"Drag this bastard up," he yelled.

Several soldiers stood Ding Shang up. Li Xu took off Ding Shang's cotton-padded jacket and took out a package of things. This was nothing else. This was a package of gunpowder. If this bastard was allowed to use such a large amount, Bring the gunpowder to the square of the Parliament Building and detonate it with a bang, which will be great fun.

Ding Shang, who had his cotton-padded jacket taken off, closed his eyes and his body was shivering from the cold wind in the early morning, but the despair inside was ten times more bone-piercing than the cold outside. In the end it was not successful.

"You bastard, spy." Li Xu went up and said, "Someone, take him away."

Yi Anlin stared at all this in stunned silence, "How, how is this possible?"

In an inconspicuous small building not far from the parliament building, Shangguan Hong and Cao Tianci sat opposite each other. From time to time, someone hurried in and whispered something to Cao Tianci.

"Another one!" Cao Tianci raised a finger and said to Shangguan Hong.

"Eight have been arrested." Shangguan Hong shook his head. "Are you sure nothing will slip through the cracks?"

"It's absolutely impossible. This time, the number of people who can enter the Parliament Square after participating in the parade and celebration is limited. These people are from the neighborhoods of the old city. If they want to enter, they must pass my inspection, or they can hide it. People can’t hide it from a dog’s nose.”

"By the way, how did you come up with this trick, actually training a dog to smell the smell of gunpowder?" Shangguan Hong asked with interest.

"I didn't come up with it. The king told me. The king said that dog noses are many times more sensitive than our human sense of smell, so training some dogs like this can help us do what many people can't do. That's why our National Security Bureau trained a group of dogs because gunpowder is so destructive. I originally wanted to be prepared, but I didn't expect to use these spies this time. It would be great if I didn't have these. Dogs can really let them sneak in." Cao Tianci stood up. He stretched and said, "Okay, Shangguan, everyone has passed the inspection now and should be fine. You can go about your business. I want to interrogate these people who were caught to see who they are." Sent by one party.”

"Does this still require a trial?"

"There is still a trial." Cao Tianci smiled, turned around and walked out.

This small building is the headquarters for security protection of this celebration. For ordinary people, they naturally have no idea how strict the security procedures for this celebration are.

In the parliament building, Gao Yuan was chatting and laughing with Fan Zhuo, the envoy from Chu. Fan Zhuo's mission to Han this time was not for the celebration of the Han Kingdom. He was actually here to propose marriage to Princess Shuyu, but it happened to be a meeting. He also became a guest invited by Gao Yuan.

The infantryman was already in his thirties, but he had never married. It was originally a problem for Gao Yuan, but he was a little surprised when a Chu man came to propose marriage, but he smiled when he heard the reason. Back then, the infantryman had been escorting Shuyu from Jicheng. The princess was escorted back to Yingcheng, Chu State. Or at that time, Princess Shuyu remembered this iron-footed general. The infantry had been ordered by him to return from Jinyang. If the infantry himself agreed, then the marriage would be considered a success.

Fan Zhuo had a relatively deep relationship with the Han State. He was the backend boss of the largest silk and satin merchant in the Chu State, and the Han State happened to be the largest importer of silk and satin. Naturally, he was sent here because he had a relatively good relationship with the Han State. Easy to talk to.

Fan Zhuo was very happy, because judging from Gao Yuan's tone, as long as the infantry agreed, there would be no problem with the marriage. The princess of Chu married into Han. Although she was only married to a general, the relationship between this general and the king of Han was extraordinary. Ordinary, it can be regarded as adding a little weight to the peace between Han and Chu, and it may have an effect in the future.

Just as he was talking happily, Cao Tianci strode in and said, "Your Majesty, all the people participating in the parade have entered the designated area, and it will start in half an hour."

"Well, is everything going well?"

"Not bad. We caught some guys who were trying to cause trouble. One group of them actually carried gunpowder. If they were allowed to sneak into the square of the Parliament Building, they would probably cause a lot of casualties." Cao Tianci turned to Fan Zhuo with a smile. , "After our interrogation, some of these people actually said that they were sent by Dachu."

"This is absolutely impossible." Fan Zhuo stood up abruptly, "Minister Cao, you can't joke about this. How could we, the great Chu, do such a thing."

Cao Tianci chuckled, "Yeah, I also thought they were talking nonsense, so after torture, they now confessed that they were sent by Lu Chao with the purpose of ruining our celebration."

Fan Zhuo's expression relaxed and he smiled bitterly and said, "Minister Cao, you can't joke like that, you scared me to the point of sweating."

"Master Fan would be so non-joking, it's really a joke." Cao Tianci said calmly. (To be continued...)