Eight hundred and ninetieth chapters earn their lives to survive
Zhou Fei is from Liaocheng, Bozhou. After he killed Wang Deli and escaped from Guantao County, he stole a horse from a mule and horse shop in the county and rushed all the way to Bozhou. He knew very well that once Tian Xu learned that he
If he escapes, he will definitely send someone to arrest his wife and children at his home in Liaocheng.
Two days later, he rushed to his home in Liaocheng. Fortunately, Tian Xu's people hadn't arrived yet. He immediately asked his wife to pack some fine clothes, hired an ox cart, and left his hometown with his wife and a pair of children overnight, taking a straight line to go there.
Beizhou.
"Husband, what happened?" His wife Yang asked in shock on the oxcart.
"Tian Xu wanted to kill me and silence me. All my men were dead and I was the only one who escaped." Zhou Fei sighed.
"What should we do?" His wife Yang suddenly panicked.
Of course, Zhou Fei will not go to Tian Yue to complain. He knows very well that it is seeking death. Tian Xu can find any excuse to frame him for colluding with the Jin army, and he will die without a trace. Now the Wei State still belongs to the Tian family.
In the world, he can only survive if he escapes from Wei first.
"Let's go to Beizhou and cross the Yongji Canal to Qinghe County. That side belongs to the State of Jin. Once we cross the river, we will be safe."
"But we don't have houses or land there, how can we live?"
Zhou Fei pondered for a moment and said: "I still have a lot of money on hand, which should be able to settle the three of you, mother and son."
Zhou Fei still had an ingot of fifty taels of silver in his arms, which was given by Tian Xu to him and his men for tea and wine. Before he had time to distribute it to his men, something happened to them in Guantao County.
.........
If you don't take a detour to Weizhou, it's not far from Bozhou to Beizhou, it only takes a day's journey.
The reason why Zhou Fei wanted to cross the border from Beizhou was because he had come to Beizhou a month in advance to investigate the situation and find out the patrol pattern. He knew the situation here very well, and he knew how to get to Jin.
Before the Wei and Jin Dynasties, a business and education transit agreement was signed. The two sides were not allowed to block merchants from going to the other side to do business, nor were they allowed to block scholars from going to the other side to study, participate in the imperial examination, etc.
But Tian Yue is also very aware of Jin's attraction to ordinary people. Low taxes and low prices for coarse cloth, salt and grain. Based on these two factors, many people want to live in Jin.
In order to prevent population loss, Tian Yue deployed a patrol of 20,000 people along the long border to stop people smuggling to the Jin Kingdom.
Regular border checkpoints are also subject to strict inspections, and only businessmen and scholars are allowed to cross the border. Other ordinary people are not allowed to cross the border, and women, children and the elderly are not allowed to cross the border.
But where there is demand, there is profit. It was Wei Jun's strict control that enabled many people to see the way to make money.
At night, Zhou Fei found a man named Ma Qing in Yonglin Village to the east of the canal. This man was originally a fisherman on the Yongji Canal. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties demarcated the border, he quickly discovered a way to make money.
, using his fishing boat to send the stowaways to the other side.
"Let's make an agreement first. Five Guan Laoqian will save one person."
Ma Qing glanced at Zhou Fei's pair of children. The young lady was about five or six years old, and the young man was about three years old. He then said: "The two of them can be counted as one. They have a total of fifteen coins. Please pay first and then leave."
Zhou Fei placed a heavy package on the table, which was five pieces of money. He also placed a gold hairpin from his wife on the table, with a bead as big as a little finger on it.
Ma Qing counted the copper coins and weighed the gold hairpin, "This seems to be less than one tael."
"Just one bead on it costs ten taels of silver." Zhou Fei said coldly.
Ma Qing grinned, "Brother, it's not that I have a bad heart. Thirty soldiers died not long ago. Now the investigation is very strict. If you catch someone trying to cross the border, they will be killed. We are risking our lives. Now we only dare to go out on the ship in the middle of the night. The price will definitely rise."
It’s worth it.”
"What now?"
Ma Qing put away the copper coins and gold hairpins, reached out and picked up the oar, "Let's go! I'll take your family across the river."
The fishing boat was behind the house, and a small river led directly to Yongji Canal. Zhou Fei asked his wife and daughter to sit in the boat shed. He squatted on the bow of the boat with a horizontal knife in his hand, watching the surrounding situation vigilantly.
The boatman Ma Qing was experienced and knew the rules of the patrols very well. He happened to cross the river mouth between two patrols and sailed straight to the other side.
The Yongji Canal is about fifty feet wide, and the water is so good that you can swim through it. Ma Qing saw Zhou Fei squatting on the bow of the boat like a leopard, holding a horizontal knife, a pair of eyes flashing with cold light, murderous intent, and paying full attention to the surroundings.
movement.
It seemed that this man was ruthless and had killed many people. Ma Qing was secretly afraid. Fortunately, he did not make things difficult for him, otherwise his life would not have been saved today.
He speeded up the oar, and in less than a moment, the fishing boat reached the other shore.
Zhou Fei carried the burden on his back, and he and his wife each held a child and went directly to the shore. Ma Qing did not dare to stop and immediately sailed the fishing boat into the center of the river.
"Daddy, where are we going?" The daughter hugged her father's neck and asked softly.
Zhou Fei pointed to the outline of the city in the distance and smiled: "Let's go to that county seat!"
.........
After dawn, Zhou Fei took his family into Qinghe County. He first settled his wife and children in an inn, and then went to the counter to exchange change. He exchanged a large ingot of fifty taels of silver into forty taels of broken silver and ten guans.
Copper coins.
He then rented a small courtyard in an alley. The rent in Qinghe County was very cheap. One acre of courtyard and five or six houses only cost one month. Zhou Fei forgot that this was because it was cheap to receive old money.
If you had a small amount of money in the past, the monthly rent would cost at least three guan, which is actually not cheap.
He paid half a year's rent and the family finally settled down.
Zhou Fei was sitting in the yard, watching his wife busy cooking. He was thinking about what he could do in the future.
He no longer wants to join the army, but apart from his excellent martial arts skills, he has no other abilities.
"Husband, the prices here are really cheap!"
His wife, Mrs. Yang, laughed and said, "I went to buy rice just now, and flour only cost thirty cents per dou. I heard that a dou of salt only cost one hundred and forty cents, which is much cheaper than in Liaocheng."
"The price of salt and rice in Jin State is officially controlled and has always been relatively low. That's why I came to Jin State instead of going to the Central Plains. Prices in the Central Plains are scary, even more expensive than Liaocheng."
"Husband, if we really can't find anything to do, let's go farm in the countryside! I heard that the rent for official land here is only 30% of the harvest, and it's tax-free."
"Your husband is skilled in martial arts, how come he can't find anything to do?"
Zhou Fei smiled and comforted his wife. He suddenly remembered that when he was exchanging silver, the counter shop seemed to be recruiting guards. Hey! This is a good job.
After lunch, Zhou Fei came to the cabinet shop. He looked up at the sign, which said "Baoju Cabinet Shop". There was a piece of paper posted next to the door, which said: High salary to recruit guards.
Zhou Fei walked into the door of the counter shop. The clerk still remembered him and said with a smile: "Does this gentleman still have a lot of silver to exchange?"
Zhou Fei shook his head, "I saw a sign recruiting guards at the door, and I want to give it a try."
"This strong man can actually read?"
The shopkeeper walked out from the back room with a smile. He looked at Zhou Fei and saw that he was tall and muscular, so he nodded, "Let's go to the backyard to try our martial arts. Come with me!"
Zhou Fei followed the shopkeeper to the backyard, and saw that the backyard was quite large. Four guards in black were sitting under the tree and resting. When they saw the shopkeeper bringing in a big black man, they knew that they were here to apply for guards again. These days
A lot of people came to apply, but unfortunately they didn't take any fancy.
Four guards gathered around. The shopkeeper pointed to a stone lock and said to Zhou Fei: "Pick it up, walk to the opposite wall, and then walk back. You will pass the first level."
Zhou Fei stepped forward and tried the stone locks. He found that they only weighed sixty kilograms. He simply grabbed two stone locks and tried his best to lift the two stone locks, each weighing sixty kilograms. Everyone around him was stunned.
Zhou Fei strode to the opposite wall, tapped the wall with his foot, turned around and walked back, gently putting down the stone lock. His face did not turn red and his heart did not beat. The shopkeeper was dumbfounded. After a while, he gave a thumbs up and praised: "The first level passed.
Got it!"
"As long as you defeat any one of the four of them in the second level, you will be fully qualified."
The four guards were all eager to try. Zhou Fei shook his head and said, "I never fight alone. The four of you come together!"
The four guards were immediately irritated. They walked up to each other holding their wrists, "Boy, you are too arrogant! Since you want to fight in a group, then we will help you."
They came to the center of the courtyard, and the four of them got into position and rushed forward together. They saw Zhou Fei rushing forward like a black panther, his speed was unparalleled. In the blink of an eye, the four guards were knocked to the ground by him, covering their faces.
Holding his arms and groaning in pain.
The shopkeeper was stunned. Zhou Fei stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, shopkeeper, is this okay?"
The shopkeeper woke up and asked quickly: "Are they injured?"
"I'm not injured. I'm sensible. I'll just take a little rest and be fine."
The four guards stood up in embarrassment, and one of them asked with a grimace: "Shopkeeper, where did you find this leopard? It's so scary!"
The shopkeeper was overjoyed. He had finally recruited a powerful guy, and he was also literate. There were very few literate samurai.
He happily said to Zhou Fei: "You are qualified. From today on, you will be their leader, with a monthly salary of ten guan. If you go out as a guard, your monthly salary will be doubled."
Zhou Fei also breathed a sigh of relief. Ten thousand dollars was three times his previous salary, and it was still old money. He could finally support his family by his own skills.