In February of the fifth year of Chu's reign, in Zhongyangli, Fengyi, Pei County, in a small courtyard with two entrances, there was a large mulberry tree like a patio cover. Under the shade of the tree, a father and son were confronting each other, and the atmosphere was quite tense.
Liu Ji, a thirty-three-year-old bachelor with a bun and a thick beard, first looked at Pi Ju on the ground who had been disemboweled by a copper cone, and then looked up at his angry old father.
Taigong Liu smiled.
"My father, if you are angry, you can just hit me. Why bother venting your anger on this? I bought it for thirty dollars in the market after all. What a pity..."
Liu Taigong looks somewhat similar to Liu Ji. They both have a prominent forehead and a high nose bridge. He was a talented person when he was young. Now that he is old, his beard and hair are gray, but he is not yet old enough to use a cane. When the weather is nice, he can still talk to him.
His son Liu Zhong went to work in the fields together.
The old Liu family used to be officials of the Wei State. They moved to Fengyi forty years ago. Although they are no longer the home of Zhongming Dingshi, they still have two hectares of fertile land and a house of five acres. They raise dogs and pigs and hunt them carefully.
If things go well, food and clothing for the family will not be a problem, and Taigong Liu can even marry a concubine.
But now, at the age when he should be teasing his grandson, he can't stop because of his incompetent third son Liu Ji...
"Unworthy son!"
Taigong Liu was so angry that he sat on the threshold. He had just returned home from planting rice with his second son, but found that Liu Ji, who had disappeared while working, was playing Cuju with a boy from the same village.
Cuju is the favorite game of Qi Chu Qingxia. Liu Ji is very skilled and plays Cuju beautifully. Those teenagers who are more than ten years younger than him can only kick with brute force. With one kick, he flew up and knocked down the altar in the yard.
The cans were smashed!
When the teenagers saw that they were in trouble, they dispersed in a hurry. Liu Lao in the room scolded these brats and came out to clean them up in distress. Only Liu Ji didn't take it seriously and laughed.
Taigong Liu was so angry that he pierced Liu Ji's skin and cursed: "Liu Ji, are you my biological child? You are idle all day long, and you are nothing like me!"
Liu Ji couldn't help laughing and looked at his mother.
Liu Lao didn't like hearing this. She stood up, put her hands on her hips, and scolded Taigong Liu: "Liu Ang, when you were young, didn't you spend all your time fighting cocks and playing Cuju in Zhongyang? I think you look the most like me."
Yes, just a few seasons!"
When Taigong Liu was exposed, his voice became a little lower: "That was when I was young. When I was more than 20 years old, I also worked in farming. Who is like this unworthy man, who is thirty-three years old, and still has sex with me?"
A young man from the middle school who was more than ten years younger than him was hanging out with me. The year before last, he shamelessly asked me for thousands of dollars, saying that he was going to Wei to do big things. What happened? When he left, he was empty-handed, and when he came back, he was empty-handed, even the scabbard was lost! This is it!
What big deal did you say!?"
"Forget it, forget it." Seeing her husband bringing up old matters again, Mrs. Liu quickly reconciled and invited them to dinner.
There were four people at the dinner table. Because the eldest brother Liu Bo had died early, the second brother Liu Zhong had separated and lived a single life, and the younger brother Liu Jiao went out to study. Now the only people at home are Taigong Liu's wife and concubine, and Liu Ji, a shameless old man.
.
"It's still no meat today."
Liu Ji looked at the simple meals with some fussiness. Since the war between Qin and Chu in Huaibei a few months ago, Fengfei, as a border town, had become nervous. The Chu government required them to hand over more grain than in previous years.
Double.
Taigong Liu was still angry and turned away, too lazy to look at Liu Ji. Lady Liu doted on her son and refilled his meal, and advised her earnestly:
"Ji'er, what your father said is not unreasonable. I asked someone to be a matchmaker for you, but I heard that you are still idle and unwilling to marry your daughter. If this continues, is it possible that you will not marry? Why don't you learn from your brother Zhong and help you?
The family is engaged in farming and industry?”
Liu Ji's face didn't turn red and his heart didn't beat: "Ji is born with an unconventional nature and doesn't like farming."
To be honest, he actually looked down on his second brother who was stingy and fearless, and only knew how to dig in the soil for food.
"Then do you want to follow your brother's lead and go on a study tour?"
The son born to Liu Taigong's concubine Li was named Liu Jiao. He was good at reading and was well-known in the family. Last year, he was sent to Lu Difu Qiu Bo to study poetry and calligraphy.
Although Fengfei is called "Western Chu", because he is close to Zou Lu, he is very fond of Confucianism. Learning Confucianism is also a way out for young people. The better ones will be invited by the county magistrate and county Yin of Chu State to be his disciples.
, no matter how hard it is, he can still organize funerals for people and get some spare money to spend. Liu Ji learned to read from the elders in the city when he was young. In the opinion of his mother, as long as his son works hard, he can definitely succeed, and he will not be worse than that concubine.
What a difference!
Unexpectedly, Liu Ji even showed disgust on his face. He hated Confucians and Confucianism the most. When he was a knight-errant, when he saw those poor Confucians in Peixian County, he would snatch off their tall Confucian crowns and urinate in them!
"Otherwise, how about becoming a merchant? Or slaughtering dogs and making wine. If you need capital, I still have some money left..."
Fengfei, like Chendi, sells fish and salt, so there are many merchants among the people, and there is no excessive discrimination against those doing business, so it is also a way out.
Taigong Liu on the side spat: "If you ask him to make wine and butcher dogs, are you afraid he has to get drunk and eat enough first?"
Hearing this, Liu Ji couldn't help but handed the finished rice bowl to his mother: "Mom, wait until this period is over before you can think of a way out for me. I just have to hide at home now. If I show up rashly, I might be killed."
If the government arrests the young man, I will be forced to defend the city like Ah Wan next door!"
Lu Wan was a neighbor of Liu Ji's family. They were born in the same year, month and day. The villagers brought sheep wine to congratulate the two families and even coaxed them to become brothers.
When the two grew up, they became true brothers and sisters. They also learned literacy from a master in the city and became their classmates. They respected each other and later became knights together. Lu Wan often followed Liu Ji as his little brother, but Liu Ji committed a crime.
, Chu officials often went to Lu Wan's house to take refuge when they came looking for someone.
But this time, Lu Wan was not clever enough. He was caught by the people who came to capture young men just after the spring began. He was tied to a straw rope and taken to the Fengyi military camp, saying that they would be used as soldiers to defend the city.
The old couple of the Lu family could only wash their faces with tears, fearing that he would not be able to come back after the war...
"What kind of enemy are you fighting? This small town of Fengyi can be easily captured with only five hundred Qin soldiers! If the Qin army comes with three thousand soldiers, they can sweep Pei County and march towards Surabaya..."
Although Liu Ji spoke Chu dialect and wore Chu clothes, he was not at all loyal to the King of Chu and Yin Xiaoshi of Peixian County. He had seen the world and saw the collapse of Wei State under the Qin army's offensive. He knew it at that time.
, which is as abundant as a strip of water in the land of Wei, and cannot be avoided.
So after he came back, he lazily didn't want to do anything, study or do business? What's the use? The world was about to change! No matter what he did in the past two years, sooner or later he would have to overthrow it and start over again, and he would just wait for the earth-shaking to happen.
That day!
At this moment, a question came from outside.
"Is Liu Ji here?"
…
When he heard someone calling his name outside, Liu Ji got excited, put his uneaten rice bowl on the ground, and ran to the barn. Taigong Liu didn't care about being angry anymore, and waited for his son to hide.
, then slowly opened the door, only to see a small official in crimson clothes and crimson crown outside...
Taigong Liu was considered a respectable person in the community, but when he saw that he was just the humblest young official, he refused with a straight face: "Liu Ji is not here, and I don't know where that unscrupulous man has gone. Whether he is dead or alive! Go!"
Look elsewhere!"
The clerk at the door stretched his head in, glanced at Mrs. Liu and Mr. Li who looked a little nervous, and then looked at the four pairs of bowls and daggers on the table. How could he still not understand what was going on? Then he smiled and said: "Mr. Liu,
Don’t you remember me? I’m Ren Ao from Peixian County! I’m Liu Ji’s good friend. I once had dinner with him at home. We got drunk and you chased him away with a broom..."
"Liu Ji told me personally that he was at home and asked me to come here to find him if I needed anything."
Liu Taigong hesitated for a moment. Seeing that the man was really kind, he let him in and shouted into the yard. Liu Ji immediately jumped out of the straw pile where he was hiding, and laughed loudly, regardless of the straw on his body and head.
He came over and hugged the young official.
"It turns out that Ren Ao is here!"
Ren Ao also met Liu Ji when he was working as a light knight with Wang Ling in Peixian County. He worked as a minor official in the Yin Mansion of the county. Although he was an official, he was very loyal and liked Liu Ji very much. The two became sworn friends.
, this time the county wanted to arrest Ding Zhuang, it was Ren Ao who told Liu Ji in advance and asked him to go out to avoid the limelight.
He invited Ren Ao to sit down for a meal, and said habitually: "Good wine and good meat..."
After saying this, I remembered that this was a home, not a wine shop, so I had to touch my beard awkwardly and asked my mother to pour some water.
Ren Ao was not like Liu Ji's group of frivolous young men who came here to eat and drink. He said to Liu Ji quite seriously: "I am here in Fengyi on official business."
"Oh?" Liu Ji was alert and responded: "Is it possible that the county wants to collect grain again?"
"Of course! Each household in Luzuo has to pay two shi of grain! The price of a house in Luyou ranges from five to ten shi!"
When Taigong Liu heard this, he immediately jumped up: "Five stones? If you pay these grains, my family will eat dirt!"
This is of course an exaggeration. Their family is considered a small landowner. No matter how difficult the situation is, they still have tens of thousands of grains stored in the family. However, this is the third time since October last year that grain has been requisitioned, and each time the amount is more.
I wish I could dig out every grain of extra grain from the people's homes! Liu Ji's family is struggling to survive, and those poor families in the town may really have to eat dirt like they did in disaster years.
"It seems that the frontline military rations are in short supply and they can no longer hold on."
"Yes, I heard that almost every household in Huaibei and Huainan has to send one or two men to the front line, either as soldiers or to transport food, because the Qin State has gathered hundreds of thousands of troops."
As a result, the Chu State brought almost one-tenth of its population to the front line. Five hundred thousand people, including livestock, had to eat nearly one million dan of grain every month. Although the Chu State was rich, it also had limited resources.
As the situation became increasingly empty, the King of Chu became anxious. He first asked for food from the feudal lords, but it was still not enough. Now he could only find a solution from the common people.
But the people are also in trouble. Almost all the men of the right age in the family have been pulled to the front line, or are serving as soldiers to guard the city nearby. Farming is busy in February, and only the elderly and women have to work in the fields. It is already miserable. Now the King of Chu has issued another order.
The food search in various counties is really making things worse.
Spring planting has been delayed, and summer harvest is still far away. How should we survive these lean months?
"I think this great Chu country is going to end!"
Liu Ji, however, did not gnash his teeth and feel sad like most people, but smiled.
From two years ago, he knew that such a day would definitely come!
In turn, he advised Ren Ao to stop working for the county magistrate and go home early to hide. Ren Ao had also had this idea for a long time. Over the past hundred years, the rich people had changed between the Song, Wei, and Chu
I have had three nationalities, changing almost every generation, so the concept of nationality is very weak.
Just when Liu Ji and Ren Ao were discussing the current situation, there was a knock on the door of Liu Ji's house again!
And this time, the knocking was particularly rapid! It really looked like an official coming to arrest someone!
Liu Ji hurriedly went to hide in the barn again, while Liu Taigong impatiently opened the door.
"Who is it again?"
As soon as the door opened, there was a Chu soldier wearing armor but missing his weapon, with an anxious look on his face. He knocked on the door and looked inside and outside. It seemed that something was happening over there.
Liu Taigong was shocked: "Ah Wan? Aren't you supposed to be a soldier guarding the city?"
"Liu Gong! What city are you still guarding?"
Lu Wan's face was full of anxiety, and he shouted: "The Qin army came in. It was so dark that it was impossible to stop it. They only shot a wave of arrows from the top of the city. The doctor Yi took the lead and ran away. We also followed suit. Fortunately, I listened.
Brother Ji told me before, if the situation is bad, run away! Otherwise, I will become a Qin prisoner and I will never see Liu Gong and Brother Ji again!"
…
In mid-February, Xiang Yan, who was in the Huaibei camp, also received news that the Qin army had invaded, Fengfei had fallen, and Lu and Pengcheng were in danger. His expression changed.
"Could it be that Wang Jian deliberately lured the main force of our army to wait here? Instead, he defended from the south and attacked from the north, hoping to sweep across the east?"