We stayed in Shanglin for three days. April 26th was the official day for Zhao Hu to marry the daughter of the Guo family. The wedding team beat gongs and drums early and set off in a mighty manner. Lin Fu established his own business.
, is the head of the family. When the wedding team comes back, he will also accept the wedding ceremony with Zhao Hu's parents. Lin Fu is not clear about many complicated etiquette, and he is confused after hearing it. However, although the Zhao family in Shanglin is
It was a small house, but there was an old man in charge, so Lin Fu just had to follow his orders.
Zhao Hu's wedding room was arranged in the new yard, and the running mat was placed in the old yard, and a pergola was set up. Lin Fu went to Zhao's house before noon, had a banquet at noon, and temporarily settled in the new yard to rest.
Outside the new courtyard was a wheat field. Lin Fu stood inside the courtyard wall talking to Cao Ziang and Zhou Pu. Looking at the heading wheat in the wheat field outside the courtyard wall, he said with regret: "Just after Xiaoman passed, the wheat grains in Dongyang began to ear.
After grain filling, the harvest can be harvested in more than ten days. After harvesting wheat, we will plant rice. What a pity..."
Cao Ziang knew what Lin Fu meant. The crisis in Hongzepu would break out before the wheat harvest was completed.
It has been ten days since Li Zhuo officially took office, and Qin Chengbo has completed the handover with him. Lin Fu and the others are in Shanglin, receiving news from Jiangning twice a day. The Qin family is moving out of the garrison general's mansion in the past two days. Most of them
Already living on the boat, the Qin family's pioneer explorers have already set off from Jiangning.
Bandits are rampant these days, and no road is completely safe. Uncle Qin Cheng also knows that the huge wealth he has collected in Jiangning is coveted by all the bandits. In addition to his own family of four to five hundred elite warriors, Lin Fu
They got the news that Uncle Qin Cheng also spent a lot of money to hire 200 armed guards from Jiangning Wufeng Escort Company. In addition, the troops sent by the Qin family to explore the road were divided into two groups, one went to Weiyang, and the other had entered Hongzepu.
It’s hard to tell the truth. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow morning, the Qin family’s fleet will set off from Jiangning and head north. Once Qin Chengbo finally chooses to go north by Shiliang River, it means that the Hongzepu crisis will inevitably break out. In fact,
The more Qin Chengbo bluffed in Jiangning, the more certain Lin Fu and the others were that Qin Chengbo would take Shiliang and go north to the river.
Most areas north of the Huaihe River still have little rain and drought this year. In addition, large-scale banditry by the court around the Chinese New Year has caused the refugee wave to break out very early, causing many areas in the north to miss spring planting. The famine in the north will further intensify. The area around Hongzepu is originally
In large grain-producing areas, war disasters will significantly reduce grain production and miss out on summer planting. This is really not a good thing.
Cao Ziang and Zhou Pu looked at each other. Years of experience have made their minds a little cold. Maybe they can talk about the general situation of the world and the livelihood of the people and they should not worry about it as "robbers". But when they saw Lin Fu's serious expression
Looking at the wheat fields outside the courtyard wall, they felt uncomfortable.
In the past few days, Lin Fu had sent two private letters to Gu Wuchen about the strange situation in Hongzepu. Gu Wuchen did not return even a word, and the Inspectorate did not take any precautions against the situation in Hongzepu.
The old house is busy preparing for the evening banquet, the Dongyang Wedding Banquet. The evening is the main banquet, where the bride is brought in to pay her respects. Although there is a banquet at noon, some dignitaries always delay coming to congratulate her until after noon.
Lin Fu listened to the commotion in the yard next door. Some people were saying that the Seventh Madam had come over, and they were all boasting that the Zhao family was really great. It was said that the Zhao family should find a few decent female relatives and aunts to accompany the Seventh Madam to a quiet room to talk, and the banquet was also
They had to be lined up in a separate room and could not be confused with the running water mat. Lin Fu waited in the new courtyard for a while and saw Zhao Hu's two younger sisters accompanying the seventh lady and her two maids to the new courtyard.
The seventh lady saw Lin Fu standing in the courtyard looking at her in green clothes. Her eyes were filled with joy. However, Lin Fu was accompanied by Zhou Pu and Cao Ziang. She restrained her joy of seeing her lover again and bowed lightly: "
You are here..." Zhou Pu and Cao Ziang both appeared to be Lin Fu's followers. Gu Yingxiu didn't know their identities at this time. Seeing their extraordinary demeanor, she just nodded.
The Zhao family didn't have any decent female relatives. Zhao Hu's two sisters were accompanying the guests. Perhaps they had given instructions to their mother. Although they were young, they didn't say much, so they knew the opportunity and entered the house first with the two maids.
"Sister Yingxiu, there are many things that I have never had the opportunity to tell you," Lin Fu said. "Today is a rare opportunity. I will introduce you to Mr. Zhou and Mr. Cao. Mr. Zhou has a bandit in Huaishang who is attacking Lin Bao. Cao Cao
My father-in-law calls me Cao Xiucai, and they are all life-and-death friends I made during the two months when I was hanging out outside last autumn..."
Gu Yingxiu was calm. Lin Fu called her "Sister Yingxiu" in front of outsiders and she no longer felt angry. With tender affection growing in her heart, she asked Lin Fu in a low voice: "What about Mr. Wu?"
Last winter, when Lin Fu went to Jiangning, there was no wave of refugees in Jiangning. Wu Qi and others did not have clean identities and could not follow him to Jiangning. Gu Yingxiu first arranged to be bankers in Shanglin. If Gu Yingxiu didn't have any knowledge,
It is impossible to survive in the intrigues of the Lin family. It has long been guessed that Lin Fu must have experienced unimaginable disasters during the period after the autumn of last year. The identities of Zhou Pu, Wu Qi and others are not destined to be simple, but Lin Fu did not take the initiative to say
, she didn't ask any questions and did everything properly for Lin Fu in Shanglin.
"I usually call him Crow Master, and people in Huaishang call him Black Sky Crow. In fact, he is not that vicious. He also came to the forest, but he has other things to do," Lin Fu said with a smile, "Speaking of which, Ying Xiu
My sister doesn’t believe it either. I also have a bandit named Donghai Fox, but people are acting under this name, so I’m embarrassed to admit it... This is not the time to talk about this in detail. When I get to Jiangning, I will tell you about it.
I will tell you everything that has happened in the past six months." Many things can only be said in person and must not be written in letters to prevent them from being lost. Only then did Lin Fu have the opportunity to briefly mention them to Gu Yingxiu.
"Well," Gu Yingxiu presented herself to Zhou Pu again, and Cao Zi'ang saluted and said, "Yingxiu is for Mr. Zhou, and Mr. Cao has paid tribute. My younger brother usually relies on Mr. Zhou, and Mr. Cao takes care of him..."
Cao Ziang saw that the Seventh Lady was not surprised even after hearing such secrets. He thought that she was really not an ordinary woman. He clasped his fists and saluted Zhou Pu: "The Seventh Lady's words are serious. We all take refuge in Mr. Lin. The Seventh Lady's words really make us ashamed...
…”
At this moment, he heard someone in the next yard saying that the Sixth Madam had brought the young master to congratulate her. Lin Fu was slightly startled. The Sixth Madam Shan had no connection with the Zhao family and rarely showed her face. Gu Yingxiu said with a smile: "In other words
If I were her, I would worry about you helping me seize the power of the Lin clan behind my back, which would be really difficult for her..."
Lin Fu smiled. Chaos was about to break out in Hongzepu, and the military calamity was about to overwhelm the nest. He just wanted to arrange for as many people as possible to go to Jiangning under various pretexts to avoid disaster. He had no greed for the power of the Lin clan.
.It’s not that he would be wary of others if he was not greedy. The Sixth Madam and Lin Zonghai thought they were sure of manipulating family power, so it was not difficult to understand why they were wary of him.
After a while, I saw the sixth lady Shan, who was in her prime as a young woman, walking over holding the young master Lin Xuxi in a brocade silk gown, accompanied by Zhao Hu's mother herself.
"It turns out that Xiao Qi and Lin Xiucai were talking here. By the way, Xiao Qi said that he was going to Jiangning to have a wedding. Did he wait for Lin Xiucai's affairs to be settled and go to Jiangning with him?" Mrs. Six said with a sweet smile, compared to half a year ago.
Despite her weakness, Madam Six has learned many skills that she didn't know before.
"The Lin family doesn't have a boat to Jiangning during this period. If I don't borrow a place with Lin Fu to stay, how can I, a woman, hire another boat to go to Jiangning?" Gu Yingxiu said. The sixth lady, Shan, mocked her and Lin Fu for not being able to stay.
Whether she was innocent or not, there was something hidden. Even if she was a thief, she wouldn't feel guilty and just talked back.
After all, Mrs. Six was no match for Gu Yingxiu in terms of words. She was not annoyed and said with a smile: "Xiao Qi will ask Lin Xiucai to take care of you. You are nominally different in generation, but everyone knows that you are like siblings.
There is nothing to avoid..." A pair of beautiful eyes looked at Lin Fu with watery eyes, and the corners of his lips were slightly curved in a half-smile, and then he said, "Lin Xiucai came back to the forest, why didn't you come to see me? I don't know how.
Even if you are your aunt, I have never said that I will kick you out of the clan when I am sober. We are all members of the Lin family, and we always have to come and go." He looked at Lin Fu with his eyes and thought to himself: People are really weird. They were useless before.
I haven't seen him for a long time. Now he seems to be really dignified. Did he really do what others said happened in Jiangning?
Regardless of what the Sixth Lady was thinking, Lin Fu bowed and apologized: "It was Lin Fu who was negligent. I will apologize to the Sixth Lady now."
Lin Mengde and Lin Zonghai came over one after another. The Zhao family did not have any prominent relatives, so Lin Fu could only deal with Lin Zonghai. Later, an elder of the Lin family came over to congratulate him, and Lin Fu got rid of Lin Zonghai and talked to Lin Mengde.
thing.
"The wheat has eared, and it will be cut in more than ten days. The young people working outside are rushing back to prepare for the summer harvest and summer planting. It is difficult to persuade people to leave their hometowns at this time..." Lin Mengde squatted in the mud in the yard.
On the ground, he talked to Lin Fu with a grimace, "You said that the matter really won't happen until after the summer planting? After the summer planting, it will be much easier to persuade people to leave their hometown."
"You can't delay, just do your best and obey fate," Lin Fu said, "Has your family arranged to go to Jiangning?"
"They all left before noon," Lin Mengde said, "This military disaster cannot be explained clearly, and not just anyone can be blamed for misleading the public..."
"Publish it privately and try to hide it. After a few days, there will be a war and chaos. Even if the government wants to trace it, they can't trace it." Lin Fu said, but he also doubted how effective it would be to spread rumors about military disasters in private.
Lin Fu would not tell Lin Mengde about fishing in troubled waters, but he needed Lin Mengde's help to arrange for as many people as possible to go to Jiangning to avoid trouble. He also briefly told him about the current urgent situation.
Not to mention persuading others, even Zhao Hu and his mother were reluctant to leave the wheat in the fields that could be harvested in more than ten days and followed them to Jiangning. Fortunately, Gu Yingxiu was going to Jiangning and asked Zhao Hu and his mother to go with him.
The second brother Zhao Bao has been learning to work with Gu Yingxiu. The younger brother Zhao Mengxiong has also been in Jiangning for almost half a year. The whole family is going to Jiangning. Zhao Hu’s father has no excuse to stay, so he can only leave more than ten acres of land.
Entrusted to the tenants. Lin Jingzhong's family directly used Jingzhong's marriage as an excuse to coerce Sun Jingtang into taking Lin Jingzhong's family to Jiangning to live for a while. As for other people in the forest, Jiyunshe could only raise funds to
To recruit people in the name of work, it is easy to persuade people who have no land and no land. Tenants who own land or rent fields are naturally unwilling to give up more than half a year's harvest and then go to Jiangning to work.
Lin Fu and others put spies in Hongzepu to monitor the situation around Hongzepu, so they knew the urgency of the situation. They even knew that the more than ten river boats parked at Shanglindu, Qiuzi boat, were the Hongzepu water village forces who arranged to block the Qin family boat.
Ordinary people naturally did not feel the urgency of the situation. Even Lin Mengde was doubtful when he first heard Lin Fu talk about it.
When the wedding team came back, there were many ceremonies to be performed. Zhao Hu, who was wearing the groom's red robe, took a chance and asked Lin Fu: "Will Uncle Qin Cheng set off from Jiangning tonight?"
"If you enter your bridal chamber honestly, how can the groom disappear so easily? You are guarding the forest. If something goes wrong, I hope you can take charge." Lin Fu asked again, "What did the Guo family say?"
"In accordance with Master Cao's instructions, I put on a bad face as a wealthy son-in-law and asked the whole family to go to Jiangning for a tour. But can the situation here last for three days?" Zhao Hu asked.
It is a custom in Dongyang that on the third day or the sixth, seventh, ninth or tenth day after the wedding or the full moon, the newlyweds go to their parents' home to pay a visit, which is called Guining in the world, and the whole marriage is considered completed at this point.
"Uncle Qin Cheng sets out from Jiangning tonight. The boat is slow. If we sail day and night, we will reach Hongzepu in three days. The time is very urgent," Lin Fu said. "When you return home, you go by boat. If you see that the situation is not right, be ready to take action."
Let’s make preparations to return to Shanglinli first, but there is no time for you to delay when we return to Shanglinli. It is hard to say that the Hongzepu families will not work together to control the important land south of Hongzepo."
After nightfall, Lin Fu and Zhao Hu's parents received the wedding ceremony in the hall. Zhou Pu hurried over and handed him a note. News came from Jiangning: Uncle Qin Cheng had moved forward the farewell banquet originally scheduled for the night to noon today.
After that, the Qin family's fleet immediately set off from Jiangning and sailed into the Shiliang River, at least half a day earlier than Lin Fu and others had judged.