Of the thirty-two horses, twenty-seven were generally undamaged or slightly injured, the other two were lame, and three had serious injuries. After all, even the blow darts were intended to injure rather than injure people.
Ma, in the chaotic battle at the entrance of the bamboo forest, it is impossible to be so precise, so the harvest is already very good.
And this was the booty that Xiongyi's group of horsemen left behind with the prisoners in Rongshui Village.
Last night, except for Zhang Chen and Lu Sanlang, all the young masters were sleeping soundly under the influence of drugs. It was shameless enough to share the credit, and no one was too embarrassed to covet any more spoils.
Even if Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu were not taken seriously, they would never dare to say this because they were short of money. As for Zhang Chen and Lu Sanlang, one is rich and powerful, the other prides himself on wisdom, and they will never stand up.
fight.
So, Zhang Shou summoned Yang Laoguan and others to talk about the temporary stay of the war horses. From Yang Laoguan, who was always obsessed with money, to the next, a lot of villagers were overjoyed. However, after Zhang Shou clapped his hands,
They immediately became quiet.
"Although the heroic commander only took away the people and not the horses, the horses still belong to the Linhai Camp. So now we can only say that we are temporarily borrowing these horses. The lame and injured ones are
Yingying and I told her that she would send someone to Linhai Camp to return them later. The remaining horses will of course be used by everyone in the village."
Before the overjoyed villagers could express their thanks, Zhang Shou revealed another important intention.
"I told Commander Xiong to leave these horses to plow the fields to compensate for the disturbance of the countryside by the rebels. But you should all understand that the war horses in the Linhai camp may not be able to plow the fields. Besides, feeding the horses costs a lot. Instead of wasting horse power on plowing, it is better to separate them.
Most of them went to pull carts to transport the new rice and other vegetables just harvested this year to the capital for sale immediately, taking along the silk threads they had accumulated in daily life, etc."
There are not many large livestock in the entire Rongshui Village, especially livestock suitable for long-distance transportation of goods. If Wu is not a kind-hearted "landowner", the horse he keeps often lends to the villagers to transport goods to the market.
Relying only on manpower to transport things to the city will only make the lives of villagers even more miserable.
Upon hearing Zhang Shou's words, the villagers were even more surprised. Especially when Zhang Shoudao would accompany him to Beijing, everyone knew that this trip to the capital would definitely save a lot of money and make a lot of money.
Not to mention anything else, if Zhang Shou goes, it means that people from Zhao Guogong's palace are following him, and maybe Miss Zhu will also go with him. Then, even if he has to pay taxes when entering and leaving the city gate, he will not be exploited, and there will be no one in the market.
People dare to bully and dominate the market!
"Okay, I'm done. Let's go home quickly and take inventory. Tomorrow is August 16th, so let's go to Beijing on the 17th or 18th. Let's feed the horses well for two days, and then prepare everything for the trip to Beijing.
, whoever leaves and who stays, it’s up to everyone.”
The villagers dispersed happily, but Old Man Yang was delayed at the end. After walking out for a few steps, the oldest old man in the village suddenly turned around and walked back. Seeing that Zhang Shou did not leave either.
Standing at the entrance of the village, watching the women clearing away the messy cups and plates, he seemed to be in a trance, then he stepped forward and coughed.
"Uncle, do you still have something to say?"
"You should ask if I have anything else I haven't asked you." Zhang Shou cast a sidelong glance at the old man angrily, and then said straight to the point, "You and I have been sloppy for so long, is it time for you to say it now?"
Are you telling the truth? You and many other people in the village were all arranged by Duke Zhao to take care of us orphans and widowed mothers, right?"
This time, Yang Laoguan no longer looked around, and his eyes were no longer as wandering as before.
He sighed and touched his mostly bald head: "Yes, that's what I thought. However, the Duke didn't say that he was taking care of his future son-in-law, he only said that he was taking care of an old friend of his.
Wife, children, orphans and widowed mothers depend on each other, but there are many places where they are afraid of being bullied."
Zhang Shou listened quietly without questioning or interrupting Yang Laoguan's story.
"I and others all stayed under the command of the Duke of Guo. At that time, the Duke of Guo was still young. When he fought with Grandpa Ruizong, he would be called a man who dared to fight and fight hard. He made great contributions in front of and behind the horse. He was not like a relative at all. He is the most valuable.
He also shows sympathy to the old, weak and disabled soldiers."
"The group of people who were injured during the expedition to the north, including me, all reported to Grandpa Ruizhong, and each one paid for the money and food... Alas, it is a pity that Grandpa Ruizhong died early, and when he came to the throne... cough
, Let’s not bring up the old things!”
"My family background was ordinary. When the Duke of Guo found me later, my two sons had just given me a grandson, and the family was very poor. So when the Duke of Guo asked me to take care of orphans and widows, I agreed and immediately moved my family with me.
When I came here, I met Deng Erniu and the others again."
"To be honest, I grew up watching my uncle. When you were a child, you were shy and weak and didn't go out much. After you recovered from your illness, you often went out. In the past three years, you have looked more and more like a fairy in a painting.
You are willing to help us teach our children. I never thought that they could memorize poems. I really didn’t expect that the person entrusted to us by the Duke of Guo would actually be my future uncle."
Listening to Yang Laoguan's rambling and unorganized words, Zhang Shou finally couldn't help but ask: "But Zhao Guogong asked you to move here to take care of our mother and son, but he didn't take too much care of you. Don't you think this life is too miserable?
?"
"How can I take care of my uncle?" Yang Laoguan shook his head, and suddenly stretched out his hand to open the dense horizontal lines on his forehead, "I am not a brave general who can kill enemies and capture flags. To put it bluntly, I am just a soldier, let alone when I am old.
That's great, I'm very surprised that Duke Zhao remembered me. If we hadn't moved here, my two grandsons would have starved to death. Where can I find such kind-hearted hosts as my uncle and my wife?"
Zhang Shou was startled for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said: "That's not what you're saying. If we were orphans and widowed mothers in an ordinary village, we might have been eaten to the point where not even a drop of flesh and blood would be left."
Yang Laoguan smiled easily: "Everyone gets what he needs. My son, daughter-in-law, grandson, and I survived, as did other families. Except for those who died of illness and old age, our lives have been pretty peaceful. My uncle grew up safely.
, now that I have met the eldest lady again, she is recruiting students and quelling the rebellion, so I will help out in a small way that I can. Thinking about it, I think it is all thanks to Duke Zhao."
"You're right, it's all thanks to Duke Zhao." Although Zhang Shou didn't ask what exactly Yang Laoguan did in the army, at this time he had already asked most of the information he wanted to know, and also
There was no further investigation.
After Yang Laoguan said goodbye with a smile and walked out for a long time, he suddenly turned around and looked at him again. A sly smile appeared on his old and wrinkled face.
Then something moved in his heart and he quickly turned around.
Sure enough, Zhu Ying was standing on the wall not far behind him, her eyes seemed slightly red.
He was just stunned for a moment before coming forward, and then without saying anything, he took out a handkerchief and handed it over. Who knew that the eldest lady didn't accept it at all, but took out a handkerchief from her sleeve and handed it over to him.
"You just gave me a piece last night, have you forgotten?" Seeing Zhang Shou's dumbfounded laughter, Zhu Ying took a deep breath, "I just accidentally saw you guys talking, come here and listen, who knows his age?"
At such an old age, you are as smart as a young man, but you find that I am still pretending not to know... Ah Shou, thank you, you obviously have a lot of confusion yourself, but you still comforted me last night!"
Thinking that it was no longer necessary to comfort Zhu Ying with words, Zhang Shou smiled slightly and took the handkerchief back.
"Yingying, I don't know if you heard just now. When the villagers go to the capital to sell things in two days, I plan to go with them and have a look at the capital."
Seeing that Zhu Ying was stunned for a moment, and then showed a surprised and somewhat troubled expression, he smiled and said: "Actually, if my mother hadn't been staring at me in the past few years, Yang Laoguan and the others would also be watching her all the time.
I, I have wanted to go out for a long time."
"Ah Shou, I also miss my father and eldest brother, and want to know the exact news about them, so I will accompany you to Beijing!"
Zhu Ying finally made a decision, raised her head and said with sincerity: "I'll go to Aunt Wu's place and tell her. If she's not worried, she can go too. We might as well stay at my house in Beijing for two days. Of course, if you
I'm afraid that there will be too much trouble in my house, so I can let someone rent a clean and elegant inn for you and others to stay, so as to save others from gossiping!"
Facing such a resolute young lady, Zhang Shou suddenly wanted to hug her.
This was an idea he had never had in his new life, but at this moment, he just smiled at her.
"Okay, then let's go and see the place where you grew up!"