stubborn thief

Chapter 20 Black Dragon King Temple Mountain

The response was very smooth, and there was no delay on the way.

In the evening of the same day, Qingzhuang and the frontier soldiers drove dozens of grain carts back to their hometown. The women in the village set up cauldrons outside the Guandi Temple in the west of the village and steamed fragrant millet rice, just waiting for them to return. Enjoy.

On the way, Liu Chengzong thought about the changes in his hometown.

Everyone knows that they are in the midst of a drought, but everyone holds the luck that the situation will get better next year. In Xingping, his father Liu Xiangyu, relying on the respect of the people for the identity of the people, decided at the clan meeting for drought-resistant crops for the whole race. , dredging the decision of water conservancy.

In the first year of Chongzhen, there was a year of drought, which proved that his decision was correct. The choice of water canals and grain planting prepared for a rainy day allowed the elders to withstand the drought.

Facing the turbulent tide of refugees, after considering the clan's food reserves, his father once again rejected all opinions at the clan meeting and accepted 42 households of refugees. His family alone took in seven households including Shi Wanzhong.

Each household of these refugees has at least one strong and sturdy laborer, who has made a lot of effort in repairing canals and reclaiming nearby unowned fields this spring.

Liu Xiangyu was the savior of Longwang Temple Mountain. If it weren't for him, the situation in Xingping would not be much better than that in Li Hongji's hometown.

Because of this, the elders in the clan knew that Liu Xiangyu saved them a lot of trouble, and they were willing to repay Li's support in their daily affairs, which became the situation in Xingpingli today.

After they became the only surviving villages in the eight surrounding villages, Liu Xiangyu was elected by the clan elders as the leader of the training regiment of Beixiang Minzhuang, and the original three Minzhuangs in Xingpingli were also promoted to 24 people.

This is the people's strong organization in Beixiang, Fushi County in the past. Since the implementation of the Yellow Book in the early Ming Dynasty, Lijiashang has become a grass-roots militia organization.

Min Zhuang is based on this, and developed through the militia system developed by thieves and soldiers in the Xuande and Orthodox years. It was dispatched by the police and returned to the field. It was not only a type of corvée service, but also a source of recruiting battalions.

The leader who trains the army is only in charge of training the army, and in case of trouble, he is called up by the imperial court.

When the frontier troops came from afar, Liu Xiangyu showed the friendship of the landlords and arranged for them to stay at the Guandi Temple after serving them with rice.

The Guandi Temple in Heilongwang Temple Mountain is not dilapidated. Last year, dozens of refugees were temporarily living in and made beds. This year, I was worried that new refugees would pass by. A few days ago, a woman in Lizhong cleaned it up.

The Liu brothers did not sleep in the temple at night. Chengzu asked Gao Xian and Tian Shoujing to take care of the sergeant, and they went home with Chengzong to visit their parents.

During the day, in front of many neighbors and frontier troops, father and son met many things that could not be said.

The second house of the Liu family was located in the west of the village. It was repaired by Liu Xiangyuzhong after he raised the fact that there was a lack of instruction in the Yan'an House. He planted a southern osmanthus tree at the gate back then. In the following years, there were indeed two talented people in Xingping.

But this osmanthus tree is miserable. It is not suitable to grow on this land. Even if the neighbors take good care of it, it is still barely alive, neither fragrant nor blooming.

The house leaned against the hill, and asked people to dig a series of cave dwellings. Earlier, the cave dwellings were idle and in disrepair.

At the earliest, the second entrance yard had not been built yet. Liu Xiangyu was admitted to the entrance examination and did not receive a real vacancy. Many students from Yan'an Prefecture came to beg for apprenticeship. cave.

Speaking of which, Liu Chengzong was very unfamiliar with this yard. Standing under the osmanthus tree, he said to his brother with emotion: "It's been more than ten years, and we have lived together in this new house for a year or so."

"Speaking of which? Ha!" Liu Chengzu was more direct, and looked up at the door: "Speaking of which, this house was not built for our family at all, and my mother didn't live here for a few years."

While the brothers were talking, someone in the yard heard the conversation outside, the door flashed out a gap, and the young man's head with a hair scarf stuck out, Liu Chengzu raised his finger and pointed at his brother with a smile: "The people from the house have come out - Chengyun! "

"Brother, Brother Lion! I heard from the second uncle that you will come back at night, and I have been waiting behind the door!"

The young man who stuck his head out was a year younger than Chengzong, with smart eyebrows. His name was Liu Chengyun, the uncle of the Liu family.

In the second year of the Apocalypse, Cheng Yun's parents and eldest brother died in the chaos of the captives. At that time, he was taken to live here when he was still young, but he has lived in this house for the longest time over the years.

Before the two brothers could say anything, Cheng Yun had already trotted out, facing the two of them, taking the reins and tying their horses, still saying, "It's great that you guys are back, I just came back from the south at night. , or I will definitely pick you up on the mountain road."

"Come back from the south." Liu Chengzu just stepped over the threshold and wondered: "There are chaos outside, why are you going to the south?"

Liu Chengzong also frowned secretly, Cheng Yun was a year younger than him, and he didn't have any martial arts skills, so he dared to run outside, and he was a little too daring.

"There's a lot to do."

Cheng Yun was not afraid when he mentioned this slightly risky journey, and said with rapturous expressions: "After you became soldiers, I went to learn skills from the second-room son-in-law Wu accountant and saved some money. When the department stores were cheap, I gave them to the second uncle and the second in Fucheng. My aunt set up two shops."

"I also bought something for the two of you, and stopped by to see my husband."

These words made the brothers stare at each other: "You, you already have a husband, when did it happen?"

"Just last year, the emperor granted amnesty to the relatives of Hou Pan... You haven't been at home for too long. I'm going to talk a lot about this. Come in and see your uncle and aunt."

Saying that, the three brothers entered the inner courtyard through the hanging flower gate of the shadow wall, and they could not help but smile at each other when they heard their mother's complaining and nagging voice from a distance.

I saw the shadows of the figures reflected in the oil lamps in the house, and my mother complained that my father left the shopkeeper and didn’t care about the housework.

The father remained silent for a long time, until the mother said that the two sons would be able to help them when they came back, and there was no need to be afraid of the soldiers and disaster victims, and then he muttered: "Relax, no one can harm my family, in the Temple Mountain of the Black Dragon King, who will come to me? Not afraid."

"Okay, let's go out for a while. It is estimated that the two babies will come back. Don't quarrel in front of them. You need to worry about housework and leave a way for the tenants to survive."

"Who is standing in the courtyard?"

Chengzu said, "Mother, I'm back with the lion."

"Come in quickly when you come back, don't get caught in the wind in the courtyard, wait for your mother to clean up the house and sleep well at night."

The old man was still talking, Chengzong had already let Xiao Zhanfeng play in the yard, and put Mei Dianmei's small house at the door of the wing, and then entered the house with his brother to kowtow to his father.

Liu Xiangyu was sitting in the main seat in the square hall with an unlit cigarette stick on the table at his hand. He looked and looked at the two sons who had bowed in front of him. It took a long time for them to get up. Don't look away and sigh deeply. breathed.

"Earlier, I thought it was not good for the two of you to be in the army. Who knows that the world will be broken. What are your plans to bring the soldiers back this time?"

(End of this chapter)