Not knowing whether an accident would happen, Liu Qiong'er, Ge Shi and Xiaohuan did not act separately. Instead, they followed Xu Wuliang to the west bank of the Baijian River before nightfall, waiting for Xu Huai and Su Di to sneak out from the military camp.
After that, everyone set off to Lutai Village where the Xu family lived together.
However, Lutai Village is located to the east of Baijian River. You cannot take a boat from the ferry at this time, and the road will be difficult.
The terrain near Huaiyuan Town is flat, compared to the rolling hills and ravines on both sides.
When leaving the army village, we headed south along the west bank of the Baijian River. There were no existing roads, hills, valleys, and ravines crisscrossed each other. It was dark and there was no road. Even though we had prepared three horses, we could only lead them carefully, along the floodplain where the water rose. Walk south among the calf-high reeds.
Fortunately, Xu Huai, Xu Wuliang and the others were familiar with the terrain along the Baijian River. They stumbled all the way to the Yellowstone Beach, and then waded through the thigh-deep shallow water to the east bank of the Baijian River.
Even a strong man like Xu Wuliang was a little exhausted at this time.
Fortunately, Su Di, Ge Shi, and Xiao Huan can endure hardships and have good physical strength; only Liu Qiong'er is delicate and frail, and the road is dangerous late at night, and she is afraid of falling off her horse. It was Xu Huai who carried her away.
After crossing the Baijian River and walking eastward for a few miles, you will reach the dirt road to Yuhuangling. At this time, there are only five or six miles left from the Lutai villages where the Xu family gathers and live on the northern slope of Yuhuangling. land.
However, Xu Huai and the others were not in a hurry to rush back to Lutai Village overnight.
Everyone suddenly rushed back to the village in a panic in the middle of the night, which could easily arouse suspicion. When the officials arrived at Yuhuangling to confront them, what words would they use to win the trust of the tribesmen?
At this moment, they couldn't help themselves anymore, so Xu Huai and the others changed into dry clothes and rested in the woods beside the dirt road.
After eating dry food in the morning, Xu Huai, Su Di, Liu Qiong'er and Xu Wuliang's family took three horses and drove to Lutai Village at the foot of the northern slope of Yuhuang Ridge.
It is more than twenty miles from Huaiyuan Town to Yuhuangling. When they enter the village when the sun rises above the treetops, they can claim that they set out from Huaiyuan Town at dawn.
Yuhuang Ridge is one of the many ridges in the South Ridge of Tongbai Mountain. It extends from southeast to northwest for eleven or twelve miles. In the west, the south slope is steep, while in the east and north slopes are gentle.
In addition to the forest of trees on the top of the mountain, the north slope also has luxuriant grass on the hillside, occasionally dotted with a few thick trees. It is a rare and excellent pasture in Tongbai Mountain.
At this time, hundreds of cows and horses have been released and are gnawing on the thriving weeds on the north slope. This is the basis for Xu's ability to run mule and horse markets in Huaiyuan, Biyang and other places.
At the edge of the pasture, there is a shallow stream flowing out from the southeast valley and flowing northwest into the Baijian River; this is Qingliu Creek, a tributary of the Baijian River.
In the early years, Lutai Village was one of several villages where the Xu family lived together along the Qingliu River. Later, in order to prevent bandits and theft, the tribesmen built rammed earth walls to surround the village into several villages, collectively called Lutai Village.
The dirt road from Huaiyuan Town extends to the Qingliu River, and there is a wooden bridge spanning the Qingliu River.
The main village of Lutai Village is also the northern village of Lutai Village. It is opposite the wooden bridge and is also the largest.
Xu Huai and the others rode up a gentle slope on horseback. On the other side of the Qingliu River was a two-mile rammed-earth wall that surrounded two to three hundred large and small courtyards and was located at the foot of the northern slope of Yuhuang Ridge.
The land along the Qingliu River is relatively flat and close to water sources. It is mostly cultivated into fields. It is also one of the few farming areas near Yuhuang Ridge. At this time, there were many tribesmen and villagers working hard in the fields.
The Xu family, headed by Xu Wufu, is the most powerful. There are many industries in Huaiyuan Town and Biyang City, and there are also many clan members. Bankers are sent out to take care of these businesses.
In the past two days, seeing Xu Wuqi, Xu Wukun and others returning to Yuhuangling with the family head Xu Wufu and his eldest son Xu Heng, the people on the Yuhuangling side were naturally confused.
In the morning, I saw Su Di, Xu Huai, Xu Wuliang's family who usually did not go back to Zhuangzi, and Liu Qiong'er, who was like a jade, rushing towards Zhuangzi. The tribesmen working in the fields also said hello curiously, and they were even more curious.
He joked with Xu Huai: "Xu Huai hasn't been back to the village for a while, why did he come back with such a beautiful wife? It's true that stupid people are lucky!"
Xu Wuliang prepared three horses overnight. Xu Wuliang and his mother-in-law Ge Shi shared one horse, and Su Di and Xiaohuan shared one horse. Liu Qiong'er could only nestle in Xu Huai's arms and go to Lutai.
Come from the village.
Xu Huai didn't mind riding on a horse with Xu Wuliang, but the horse couldn't bear their weight.
Xu Huai reached out and grabbed Liu Qiong'er's waist, pushed her out of the saddle, and explained to the tribesmen in a sullen voice: "Miss Liu is not my wife; I don't want a wife, it's not fun at all!"
Liu Qiong'er sat down on the back of the skinny horse. She felt panicked and pinched Xu Huai with her hands behind her back. She said in a low voice: "If you want to pretend to be an idiot, you can't be gentle to me; what's wrong with me?"
?”
"Di Niang, Di Niang, why are you back today?"
Su Di and her father, Su Laochang, lived in poverty. Over the years, they had taken root in Lutai Village and farmed on tenant fields. They were considered to be the villagers of the wealthy Xu Wu family, the eldest son of the Xu family.
He was taking Su Di and her twelve-year-old brother Su Mung to carry manure and water to the fields. When he saw Su Di and Xu Huai rushing back to Zhuangzi early in the morning, they came over barefoot and asked.
The Xu family was a war refugee who fled from the Yuzhou area into Tongbai Mountain during the war in the previous dynasty. At first, there were only two or three hundred people. At that time, Tongbai Mountain had just ended the war, and another plague broke out, Yuhuangling, and Qingliuxi.
There are less than seven or eight households left nearby, and the Xu clan has taken root and settled here.
One hundred and fifty years have passed so far. The Xu family has more than 2,000 people. Including other people with small surnames, there are a total of 3,000 people living in the four villages of Lutai. However, even if there are large tracts of pasture for grazing cattle and horses, it is far more than the land can bear.
Able.
Before Xu Huai's father's generation, more and more tribesmen were forced to leave Yuhuangling to make a living, but most of them still worked on the slopes of the poor ridge and lived a very poor life.
In mid-spring, the weather is not very warm yet, but in order to save a pair of straw sandals, Su Di and her father, Mr. Su, often go to the fields with bare feet, which are full of cracks.
"Wujiang has been away from the military camp for some time recently, so I will go back to the camp to stay for a few days." Su Di was talking to her father, then reached out and grabbed her brother Su Mi's ear and asked, "Why don't you go to the school at this time?"
?”
The Xu family owns a lot of family property, which is all under the management of the family head Xu Wufu and several clan elders. In addition to helping the orphans, widows, sick and disabled members of the clan, preparing for theft during the autumn training, building ancestral halls, village walls, and holding village community festivals.
In addition to the ancestral hall and other expenses, Beizhai also set up clan schools and martial arts halls to recruit the children of the clan and those with foreign surnames.
This is also the main reason why the Xu family has strong cohesion in Tongbai Mountain, and the clan plays a more or less role.
However, by the age of 12 or 13, boys are already half as strong as a labor force. Poor families do not expect their children to achieve anything by studying and practicing martial arts. After three or four years in school, they will almost be dragged to the fields to participate in farming, or find ways to do it.
Learn a craft to make a living.
When Su Di married Xu Wujiang, she could still help her mother's family, but she hoped that her brother could study for a few more years. Even if he got a job in the inspection department or the county in the future, he could bid farewell to the fate of working hard in the fields all his life.
"What's the use of studying? I want to practice martial arts!" Su Tan said stubbornly.
In order to prevent chaos in the feudal towns, when the country was founded, it was civilized and military.
Deng Gui was an upright and eight-level martial arts scholar, but after nearly 20 years of circulation, he was still only a ninth-rank inspector with no special merits. He could not be promoted if he was short of vacancies. Not to mention that in the officialdom, the status of Wen Jinshi was far from the highest.
Wu Jinshi can compare.
Most of the time, important general positions such as commanders and governors who commanded the imperial army were held by scholars and civil servants. Even internal eunuchs were more likely to serve as commanders than military ministers.
This resulted in many people who had a background in martial arts, but ultimately did not join the army, but took the path of promotion as civil servants.
The military and horse supervisors of prefectures and counties have always been held concurrently by civil servants who were scholars, and they are never given to military officials easily.
This shows how big the gap is between practicing martial arts and studying literature in this world.
As for soldiers like Xu Wujiang, no matter how many bandits they capture and kill in Tongbai Mountain, they have no hope of becoming a top class official in this life. The positions that Jin Longquan and Xu Huai's father held in the Jingsheng Army were the eyes of the martial arts disciples in Tongbai Mountain.
The best you can see.
If conditions permit, Su Di certainly hopes that her brothers will study literature instead of martial arts.
However, now is not the time to dwell on this.
"Wu Jiang said when he was sent out to the military stronghold that his father's sixtieth birthday is today, and he wanted me to come back and make arrangements for him in a lively manner - we just rushed back to the stronghold from Huaiyuan early in the morning. Dad, you and Su Miao should tidy up quickly.
, go to Xu Sihu, Xin'an and his family, and call them all to Nanzhai to help. Xu Huai and I will go to Nanzhai to get busy first." Su Di said to her father.
"Old Xu's sixtieth birthday today? I haven't heard anyone mention it. Why did you come back in such a hurry today? It's almost three o'clock in the morning. How can you prepare in time?" Su Laochang asked in surprise.
The men and horses of the Inspection Department dare not walk at night, but they will probably arrive before noon.
No matter what, even if it is a lie, we must first gather all the children to Nanzhai, so as not to let the inspection team arrest them directly.
If a family falls into the hands of the Inspection Department, it will be difficult to force Xu Wufu to go to the Inspection Department to beg for help with a tough attitude.
"We have brought back everything we need to prepare from Huaiyuan," Xu Wuliang patted the big bamboo baskets hanging on both sides of the saddle and covered with cloth, and said, "Wu Jiang can't come back, so I specially asked those who just redeemed themselves from Yuehong Mansion.
Miss Liu is here to congratulate his father on his birthday! Father Su, go and call someone quickly. My third uncle is always keeping track of time. If anyone is even half a step slower, he will scold him for a long time..."
"Old man Xu has a bad temper!" Speaking of Xu Wujiang's father, Su Laochang was also dissatisfied and complained.
Su Di urged her father and brother to accompany Xu Wuliang to call for help to ensure that Xu Xin'an and the family members of the soldiers were gathered in Nanzhai before the troops from the inspection department arrived; she and Xu Huai, Liu Qiong'er and
Xu Wuliang's wife, Ge Shi, and her daughter Xiaohuan took Xu Wujiang's letter and rushed to Xu Wujiang's home in Nanzhai to ensure that the pretext of Xu Wujiang's father's sixtieth birthday would not be exposed.
What they can rely on now is mainly the support of the Xu clan. Regardless of whether the birthday banquet will be interrupted by the people of the Inspection Department, it must be held in a convincing way...
