Faced with the reality, Zhao Ran chose to temporarily bow to his fourth uncle and planned to sell the land to his fourth uncle. Now that he had made up his mind, he slept very soundly and did not wake up until three o'clock in the morning.
After breakfast, Zhao Ran was ready to go to his fourth uncle's house. After leaving the door, he opened the simple bamboo fence that was half a person's height outside the small courtyard. He looked up and saw Uncle Zhao rushing toward him carrying a baggage.
"Why is uncle here?" Zhao Ran asked.
"Sanlang, hurry up!" Uncle Zhao looked anxious, stuffed the baggage on his shoulders directly into Zhao Ran's arms, and pulled Zhao Ran to run out.
Zhao Ran was very puzzled and didn't know what Uncle Zhao meant. Zhao Ran was already eighteen years old and he didn't want to leave. Uncle Zhao really couldn't hold him back. As a last resort, Uncle Zhao had to stop and tell the story of what happened in a few words.
Tell a story.
Earlier this spring, a mining accident occurred in the Chuanling Copper Mine in Songfanwei, west of Long'an Prefecture, and more than a hundred miners died. The Chuanling Copper Mine is an imperial property, and this matter was under the supervision of the Governor of Xuanweisi in Western Sichuan. So
The guarding eunuch Zhao De ordered the Long'an Mansion to collect corvees to make up for the shortage of miners. There were twelve places in Shiquan County, and Zhaozhuang was unfortunately chosen by the lottery.
In the past, when encountering similar irregular corvées, the old patriarch would take out money from the family property and hand over the corvée silver to the government in order to be exempted from the service. However, during the public meeting in the ancestral hall this morning, the fourth uncle of the new patriarch did not follow the convention, and
It is a normal assignment of manpower to serve. Originally, Zhao Ran's family was not in the rotation, but the two villagers before him had visited relatives in the "recent days" and were not in the village. The deadline given by the county
And tight, so Zhao Ran became a tragedy.
"Sanlang, this is Fourth's trick. If you go to Chuanling, you may not come back one day!" Uncle Zhao was so anxious that he stamped his feet and repeatedly urged Zhao Ran to run away. Even Uncle Zhao was stunned.
Everyone in the village could see it. How could Zhao Ran not know that this was the fourth uncle taking the opportunity to seek personal gain? It seems that the fourth uncle can't wait to take over his own land, and as long as he makes good use of this opportunity, he may even divide it.
Without writing, you can get three acres of fertile land for free!
Is it a joke to serve in the Chuanling Copper Mine for one year? If I really go, I probably won’t be able to come back. Zhao Ran even guessed that maybe he wouldn’t be able to reach the Chuanling Copper Mine at all, as long as his fourth uncle Hua
It is common for people to spend a small amount of money and "die" in the middle way.
"Why didn't the clan members call me?" Zhao Ran asked.
"Who knows? You were working in the fields and you were called to the ancestral hall. If I had known earlier, I would have come to inform you. Didn't you see it? They are determined to punish you!"
"Go? Where to go?" Zhao Ran looked dejected. It was impossible to leave the county. Without a road guide issued by the county, Zhao Ran couldn't go anywhere.
"Go hide in the mountains for a few days, and then come back in ten days and a half. Then I will tell you that you went to the mountains to collect medicine. You have to wait until you get through these few days!"
Zhao Ran thought about it carefully. Uncle Zhao's method was very simple, but also very effective. Since the two families who were ahead of him and should have taken turns to serve in the corvee could "visit relatives", why couldn't he "enter the mountains"?
What about “picking medicine”?
After thinking about it, Zhao Ran didn't waste any time. He took the package and bamboo tube handed over by Uncle Zhao, and walked away, heading straight towards the back mountain along the path. Before entering the forest, Zhao Ran looked back again and saw Zhao Ran.
The uncle was still standing in front of his dilapidated yard, looking up, and when he saw himself looking back, he was so anxious that he waved his hands to tell him to go faster.
Zhao Ran took a deep breath and plunged into the forest.
There was a stack of hard bran cakes, a few pieces of dried sweet potatoes, and a few old pickles in the package. If you save some food, it would last for three to five days. Zhao Ran carried the package and bamboo tube on his shoulders, and held a broken branch in his hand.
While exploring the grass and shrubs under my feet, I walked straight ahead. There are many snakes and insects in the forest, so alerting them is the most basic way of walking.
The primary forest in this world is much more lush than the secondary forest in the era before time travel. The grass is long and the trees are dense, making it difficult to walk. It was not until the sky was getting dark that Zhao Ran came to the destination of his trip - a place.
On the top of the slope, two huge rocks are stacked together, and the angle between the folds is just right to keep out the rain and wind.
Uncle Zhao's consideration was very thoughtful and detailed. In addition to food, the package also included fire. Zhao Ran picked up some branches and grass, piled them in a pile and lit them. He first roasted the rock wall under his feet, and then burned it on the nearby rock wall.
Pick some big leaves from the big tree, dry them, and put them on the rock wall to make a simple mattress.
Take out the hard bran cake, put it on the fire and roast it till soft, then eat it with the water in the bamboo tube, then take a few bites of pickles, and you'll have a complete meal.
Lying next to the fire, Zhao Ran put his hands under the back of his head, looking up at the stars in the sky, thinking about the legendary fairy shadows and the heavenly paradise, Zhao Ran soon fell asleep.
Zhao Ran had a dream. He dreamed that he was wearing a purple gold Taoist robe, stepping on five-color auspicious clouds, making a secret in his hand, saying "Go", and a sword light cut through the mountains, killing all the monsters in fear and attracting the gods.
They all paid homage from afar, causing countless beautiful fairies to ogle at him. Just when he was showing off his power, suddenly a demon came in front of him, wielding a huge golden cudgel. His appearance turned out to be that of Qitian Da.
Holy Sun Wukong. I saw Sun Dasheng swinging the golden cudgel and smashing it on his head. The momentum was amazing, and no one could stop it.
Zhao Ran quickly used the method of changing his body, and dodged again and again, but was still unable to escape. In the end, he was hit hard on the shoulder by the golden cudgel. The pain was so strong that Zhao Ran screamed "Ah"
, but was awakened.
When he opened his eyes, he saw six or seven people holding torches surrounding him in the dark night. One of them hit him hard on the leg with a stick. It turned out to be Zhao Wu, the steward of his fourth uncle's family.
.The two big mastiffs barked and pounced on him. If they hadn't been dragged tightly by someone, they would have rushed up.
Zhao Ran felt so regretful that he patted his forehead and secretly thought, why did he forget that he had a dog and go out like this?
"Brother Five, what are you doing?" Zhao Ran smiled apologetically at Zhao Wu.
"Run? Keep running?" Zhao Wu hummed with a cold face.
"Where do you start talking about this? I went into the mountains to collect herbs..."
"Don't say these useless things, you know exactly what you are doing! Escape from the imperial service - you have studied, don't you know that this is a huge crime? Do you really want to taste what it's like to be exiled to the army? Are you escaping?
It doesn't matter, but what if it affects the village? We are all relatives, so you don't think about the clan? In the middle of the night, it's hard work for my brothers, and I can't sleep well... Let's go, is it possible?
Do you want some of my brothers to tie you up?"
After talking about this, Zhao Ran was also a bachelor. He stopped talking nonsense, got up and left. At noon the next day, the group finally returned to Zhaozhuang. Zhao Ran begged Zhao Wu, saying that he was willing to sell his land and only asked for
Zhao Wu refused to serve, but Zhao Wu ignored him. Zhao Ran understood that the fourth uncle didn't even want to get out of the money.
Zhao Ran was taken to the woodshed of his fourth uncle's house and locked up. Until now, Zhao Ran could not think of any good solution and could only lie on the haystack and continue sleeping. At night, his fourth uncle had
His servants brought him food. Although the food was vulgar, he could still make a living. Zhao Ran was not polite. After eating, he lay down and continued to rest. He began to think about how to protect himself along the way and arrive at Chuanling safely.
.
Early the next morning, the woodshed door opened again, but this time no food was delivered. Zhao Wu stood at the door of the woodshed and shouted with a cold face: "Let's hit the road." There were several strong men behind him, and they shouted fiercely.
Staring at Zhao Ran.
Zhao Ran was taken aback, but then he was relieved. Zhao Wu's words probably weren't meant to harm his life. In any case, lynching himself was not allowed by the Ming Dynasty's laws. I don't think my fourth uncle would do it. This sentence should be
That's the original meaning - it's time to set off.
When passing by Zhuangtou, many farmers stood in the fields to see off Zhao Ran. No one spoke, and Zhao Ran couldn't tell what they were thinking from their dull expressions - except for Uncle Zhao and Aunt Zhao.
Uncle Zhao squeezed past Zhao Wu and stuffed two steamed buns into Zhao Ran's arms. His lips were trembling and speechless, but his eyes were red. Aunt Zhao stood aside and wiped her tears.
Zhao Ran took the steamed bun, carefully put it into his arms, called Uncle Zhao softly, "Uncle", then looked at Aunt Zhao who was wiping tears and called "Auntie", and finally bit his lip and said, "Take care of yourself."
”.
Zhao Wu sneered after watching this scene, and then shouted to everyone around him: "Let's all disperse!" He led two strong men and escorted Zhao Ran away from Zhaozhuang. Their destination was Shiquan County, a hundred miles away.