The New Year is coming to an end, and New Year's Eve is coming tomorrow. Even in the border town of Xuanling County, despite the cold wind and heavy snow, the people are still preparing for the upcoming New Year's Eve.
If it is bitter all year round, then on this last day, no matter how bitter it is, most people will find it sweet. On New Year's Eve, no matter how unhappy this year is, by this moment, it has reached the end.
, just after this day, next year will be a new year full of hope.
In Fangshi in the northeast of the county, the last batch of goods shipped from Shendu this year are currently being sold for the final time. Compared with other places, the prices of these goods sold in Xuanling County at the moment are not too expensive.
It's quite simple. From the capital of God to Xuanling County, the imperial army has passed through countless times, and the monsters on the way have been eliminated more than once. Compared with other places in the Liang Dynasty, leaving the capital of God is frightening. I don't know how much easier it is.
, if traders can endure the loneliness, they can actually pay some money on the day when the Ministry of Revenue starts transporting grain and grass to the north, and then they can go north with the imperial army, and the risk will be much smaller.
Therefore, the prices of all the goods sold by the gods in Xuanling County are not too expensive, at least compared to other places, they are much cheaper.
A woman along the street went out in a hurry, bringing with her the money she had saved for a long time to buy some rouge that was shipped from the capital before the customs last year. She had worked hard for a year and saved a year. At this moment, it was time to reward herself.
It was just the money at home. After excluding necessary expenses and buying new year's goods, there was not much left. The woman had to keep most of the pitiful bag of money, but fortunately she gritted her teeth and took out the little money.
It's not a problem to buy a box of not-so-good rouge there.
The woman went out in a panic, holding an oil-paper umbrella and trotting towards the market over there. She accidentally bumped into someone in the alley. The woman didn't know how the other person was hit by her, but she hit herself.
After that moment, he staggered and fell backward, and was about to fall into the snow.
But for some reason, the body that was originally falling towards the back suddenly stopped falling. After swaying, the woman finally stood up. At this moment, she raised her head apologetically.
Come, a little embarrassed and said: "I'm sorry."
Her accent has an unusually strong Northern accent, but it is different from the accent in Xuanling County.
The tall man in front of her shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter."
When the woman heard this, she breathed a sigh of relief. Then she looked up and saw that the man in front of her was tall. He was actually taller than her husband who had joined the army a few years ago, but he didn't seem to be rich.
Hey, in this cold winter month, he is still wearing a single suit. At this moment, the robe made of no apparent material is full of holes. It looks like he has been wearing it for several years?
For some reason, the woman didn't dare to look at the man's face. But when she saw that the man didn't leave immediately, the woman asked out of nowhere, "Are you hungry?"
Looking at the man's outfit, she naturally thought that he might not have eaten in a few days.
The man thought for a moment, then nodded, "Somewhat."
The woman who was originally thinking about buying rouge gritted her teeth at this moment. There was a war between heaven and man in her mind, but she finally decided to give up. While turning back, she whispered: "Follow me."
Then she turned around and walked home.
The man hesitated for a moment and then followed.
The woman's home is at the end of this alley. It's not big, just a small house.
When the two of them passed the alley, the residents on both sides saw the man and the woman, and some sneers came out, and their malicious eyes fell directly on the two of them.
The man didn't think anything of it, but the woman blushed at first and then felt a little aggrieved. She was not the type to let others bully her. If there wasn't a man behind her today, she might have stood up and scolded him right away.
Already.
After finally making it through the short alley and arriving in front of the house, the woman stepped across the threshold and let out a long sigh of relief.
The man stood at the door, staring at the wooden sign hanging on the wooden door.
There was a person's name written on the wooden plaque, and it also stated when the person joined the army. Unfortunately, it was written not with a vermilion pen, but with an ink pen.
More than ten years ago, after the current Emperor of Liang came to the throne, his support for the north reached an unprecedented level. This can be seen from the conscription law promulgated when he took the throne. All Daliang men who applied for the northern border army must be recruited by
After checking by the imperial court, he wrote down the time of his military service in front of his home. In addition to the monthly military pay, he also received a monthly monetary subsidy from the Ministry of Household Affairs. If this person died in battle one day, he would be given a lump sum of varying amounts according to his military merit.
In addition to money, for the old and young at home, some money still needs to be sent by the government every month.
It's just that the sign in front of the door needs to be written with ink pen instead of ink pen.
The name on the wooden sign in front of the man was written in ink, which meant that the man had died in the battle in the north.
Seeing the man standing at the door for a long time, the woman thought he was worried about the gossip, so she quickly shook her head and said: "I'm used to gossiping. After all, my guests and I don't really have anything to do with each other, so why should we care?"
When the man heard this, he came back to his senses, and then walked into the small courtyard.
When they came to the corridor, the woman quickly brought the stove, poured in the charcoal that she was not willing to use on weekdays, and lit it. The stove was quickly lit, so that the man could feel warm while sitting under the eaves.
Then, before the woman could do anything, a figure poked its head out of the room. It was a young girl. She looked at the woman timidly and asked, "Auntie, are you having a guest?"
The little girl has a pair of big, watery eyes, which look very endearing.
The woman responded and muttered: "Go do your homework yourself. If you can't finish your homework today, you won't be able to say anything about New Year's Eve tomorrow."
The little girl giggled, pouted and said, "Mom, whose child still does homework on New Year's Eve?"
The woman straightened up and said, "That's why I let you finish it today!"
The little girl said oh, glanced at the man again, then reluctantly pulled back her head and ran to do her homework.
At this moment, the woman looked at the bacon hanging on the beam, gritted her teeth, and took the largest piece down. The man was so tall and looked like he had been hungry for a long time, so he estimated the piece
There is nothing left after eating.
After simple cooking, the woman brought out a large bowl of meat, a bowl of broth, and a small bowl of steamed buns, and placed them in front of the man.
The man glanced at the beam over there and knew that this piece of meat was probably something that the mother and daughter would not be willing to eat all year round and would have to wait until the end of the year to cook the New Year's Eve dinner. However, he did not open his mouth to point it out and just asked: "You
Is the man in the family also a husband?"
The woman hummed, smoothed her hair, and did not hide anything. Instead, she said: "He's dead. He died on the Great Wall in the north two years ago. I got a letter from him, so I thought about going to him."
I looked at the place where he died, but the government said that it was an important town and I couldn't go there, so I gave up this year. Unfortunately, not even a single body was returned. They didn't say what happened, but I know.
They were eaten by those monsters."
Monsters cannibalizing people is nothing new to the people of the Liang Dynasty.
The man frowned and said, "It's really difficult over there. If possible, they will definitely get the bones back."
The woman hummed and said: "I was a little sad and confused at first. My man was fighting against the monsters in the north. If he dies, he will die. There is nothing to say. Why can't we get the body back? But later on
I heard that those guys who were also on the Great Wall in the north sometimes couldn't eat a mouthful of food for several days. They just gnawed the frozen steamed buns into their mouths. Then I felt that they were not important. What if they wanted to pay more for my man's bones?
If a few die, the gain will really outweigh the loss."
Before the man could speak, the woman suddenly looked up at him and saw his somewhat white hair on the temples, and asked, "Is the guest coming back from there too?"
The man nodded.
The woman was a little happy and said: "I just saw the guest, and I felt that there was a shadow of my man in the guest. Sure enough, he was also killing demons over there, good job!"
The man just asked: "Has the money from the government been delivered to your hands every month? Has anyone... bullied you?"
The woman nodded and said: "There are silver coins every month, thirty big Liang Tongbao!"
She just answered the first question and didn't talk about what happened next. The two of them depended on each other, so they naturally suffered a lot of grievances.
There is no need to explain this.
The man's face became a little unsightly. He looked at the woman, remained silent for a moment, and then said: "The rules set by His Majesty when he first ascended the throne are that after someone dies in the Northern Territory, he will receive a monetary subsidy based on military merit. The amount is
It varies, and then there are forty Daliang Tongbao every month."
The difference between forty and thirty is only ten coins, but one person is ten coins, which does not seem to be much, but what about ten people, hundreds, and thousands of people?
How many more than 10,000 people die in the war in the north every year?
The woman was startled. She didn't know such a thing. After hearing this, she frowned for a long time before she seemed to be convincing herself, "It's almost the same."
The man shook his head and said, "It's a lot different."
The woman sighed and said: "We, the two of us, have no ability and no support. It would be good to have thirty coins. If we go to cause trouble for ten coins, we may not know what will happen."
The man didn't say anything, but in fact what the woman said made sense. It was extremely difficult for the two of them to seek justice.
The woman quickly turned to ask: "Guest, I heard that there is a big war in the north recently. Can we... win?"
In the past few years, there have been constant wars in the north, but most of them were dominated by the demon clan, and the human race paid a huge price to remain equal. Even the woman knew that, but since it was a war, she naturally thought about what those people in the place where her man had been could do.
Winning is not only for the people of Daliang, but also probably for his own man’s spirit in heaven.
The man glanced at her and gave an accurate answer, "Win."
The woman asked casually, but when she got the answer, she was a little unbelievable, "Really?!"
This chapter has been completed!