Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

While speaking, the father and son had already arrived at the entrance of the village.

Dongshan Village is the largest village in Laodong area, with more than one hundred households.

The Xu family's old house is at the head of the village. It has a three-room and three-entry structure. There are huts, pig pens and cow pens in the front and back of the house. The whole layout is full of rural atmosphere.

The news of Xu Yingwei's return to his hometown had already been sent back in advance.

So not only the family members, but the whole village came to watch the excitement.

Nothing else, just because Xu Yingwei is the first scholar from the Xu family in the past two hundred years, and he also went to Xuzhou under the order of King Qin. This is a big event for such a remote mountain village, and it is rare in a hundred years. one sight.

So when he heard that Mr. Xiucai had returned home, the whole village rushed to the entrance of the village to watch the excitement.

Xu Yingwei's family is the youngest in generation, so he hurriedly went forward to salute one by one, the third grandpa, the seventh uncle, and the third uncle came down in a circle, finally met all the elders, and finally came to a pretty young woman holding a child.

This young woman is obviously from a scholarly family, and she has a bookish air about her.

"Husband." The young woman bent her knees and said to the child in her arms, "Quickly call Dad."

The child in his arms was about three or four years old, and he called Xu Yingwei timidly, "Daddy."

"Hey." Xu Yingwei agreed, and reached out to take the child from the young woman's arms.

Xu Shiyi next to him frowned slightly, and said: "Youzhen, a gentleman is far away from his son and close to his grandson."

"Father, those ancient rituals are outdated." Xu Yingwei said indifferently, "When the current emperor gets along with the crown prince, King Ding and King Yong, he is not bound by the ancient rituals at all. They are very affectionate between father and son, my son. I think that's fine."

After finishing speaking, Xu Yingwei gently scratched his son's little nose, and his son immediately let out giggles.

Xu Shiyi frowned more and more, but he couldn't say anything more. You can't say that the current emperor is doing something wrong, right?
Then, two more young men who looked somewhat similar to Xu Yingwei came forward to pay respects. The one on the left looked about eighteen or nineteen years old, and was also tall and strong. The one on the right was smaller and wore a This Confucian shirt is still a child, but these two are Xu Yingwei's second brother Xu Yinglong and third brother Xu Yingxiong.

"Brother." The two brothers saluted Xu Yingwei solemnly.

Xu Yingwei returned the gift, and helped his two younger brothers up one by one.

Then, under the envious eyes of the villagers, the family went home alone.

When he got home, Xu Yingwei took out the gifts he had prepared in advance and distributed them one by one.

For the father is a crutch, for the second brother is a saber, for the third brother is the four treasures of the study, for the wife is a box of rouge, even for the son, a delicate wooden horse.

"Father, where is mother?" Xu Yingwei took out a piece of silk and asked, "Why haven't you seen it?"

"Going back to her mother's house." Xu Shiyi said calmly, "It is said that he will come back after a while."

The second and third younger brothers next to him gave Xu Yingwei winks repeatedly, and Xu Yingwei felt a little funny, thinking that he was still fighting at this age.

The dinner was ready quickly, and the family gathered around the table to eat dinner. …

Xu Yinglong couldn't put it down so much that his elder brother gave him the Saber, he wouldn't even put it down when he was eating.

"Second, I'm eating, what are you doing with this thing?" Xu Shiyi scolded angrily, "I know how to wield knives and guns all day long, and I don't know how to help the family with some work."

After finishing speaking, he blamed Xu Yingwei and said, "You too, why did you give him the whole knife?"

"Brother, did you buy this knife from Nanjing?" Xu Yinglong ignored his father's nagging, and asked Xu Yingwei, "How much did you spend?"

"Second brother, I didn't buy this knife."

Xu Yingwei shook his head and said, "I captured it from the battlefield, Jiannu's knife."

This saber was indeed seized from the battlefield, and it was captured by Xu Yingwei himself.

"Really? Have you ever killed Jianu with your own hands?" Xu Yinglong said eagerly with a strange look in his eyes, "Brother, tell me the story of the war quickly? I want to hear it."

Xu Shiyi's face showed a look of surprise.

He really didn't expect that his son actually went to the battlefield.

Moreover, he had a life-and-death fight with Jiannu, and even beheaded Jiannu.

So, isn't my son a Confucius who hangs a sword at his waist and is both civil and military?
Thinking of this, Xu Shiyi suddenly felt first-class inexplicable pride.

After dinner, the family chatted for a short time. The village chiefs, Jia chiefs, and clan elders from all villages came to Dongshan Village one after another and gathered in the large ancestral hall at the entrance of the village, which is also the ancestral hall of the Xu family.

Xu Shiyi took Xu Yingwei into the ancestral hall for the last time.

Xu Yingwei gave another salute, who made their family so young.

"Everyone, you have also seen the scene of this year." Xu Shiyi sat on the central seat in the middle, and said in a deep voice, "There hasn't been a drop of rain for two months, and the crops in the field are almost dying."

"Oh, who said otherwise, I'm afraid there will be another famine this year."

"Your big village is better, but the people on our mountain are more troublesome."

"Patriarch, looking at the situation, I'm afraid people will starve to death this year. Shouldn't the clan think of a way? Can't just watch the villagers starve to death?"

As soon as Xu Shiyi finished speaking, there was a lot of complaining.

"What can the clan do?" said the chief of Dongshan Village, "The clan has only a few acres of clan land, and this year's harvest will also be poor. Maybe even the private acquaintances will have to be dismissed."

"Then why are we here?"

"That's right, it's a round trip of more than ten miles."

"If you save your strength, you can irrigate two more acres of land."

The Li Chang and Jia Chang below immediately called out.

"Shut up!" Xu Shiyi took out the crutches his son had just bought for him and stomped heavily on the ground. He actually doesn't need crutches at all at his age, it's all for showing off.

Xu Shiyi's prestige in the clan is still quite high.

With this shout, the people below immediately fell silent.

Xu Shiyi said: "I called you this time to find a way to survive this year's famine."

Speaking of this meal, Xu Shiyi went on to say: "Last year, my son was ordered by King Qin to go to the north to fight a few battles with Jiannu. He was lucky enough to survive and made some minor contributions, so His Majesty gave him some grace."

When everyone heard this, they immediately regained their spirits: "Patriarch, what grace did the Holy Majesty give you?" …

"That's right, isn't the imperial court recruiting soldiers?" Xu Shiyi said, "The Holy Majesty specially gave my son some places, and asked my son to go back to Laodong to recruit soldiers."

A chief Jia asked: "Patriarch, do recruits eat imperial rations?"

"I'm really ignorant." A village chief sneered, "The recruitment of soldiers not only eats the emperor's rations, but also pays them."

"Really?" Dozens of armor chiefs, village chiefs, and clan elders turned their gazes to Xu Yingwei, "Mr. Xiucai, do you really get paid for recruiting soldiers?"

"Really." Xu Yingwei nodded and said, "The monthly salary is one tael or five. If Jian slaves are killed on the battlefield, there are other rewards. A real slave will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver, and a surrendered soldier or coat will be rewarded with ten taels of money."

"My God, is the monthly salary one, two or five dollars?" The whole ancestral hall was blown up.

"Patriarch, choose our second child. Our second child is as strong as a cow. He must be a good fighter in war."

"Mr. Xiucai, bring your Huzi brother with you. Your Huzi brother will herd cattle with you when you were young. He can follow you as your personal companion, and can protect you from arrows at critical moments."

"Wait a minute, this matter cannot be left to your Dongshan Village."

"That is, this is the grace of the Holy One, you cannot swallow it alone."

"Shut up!" Xu Shiyi yelled again, suppressing the clamor of the crowd, and then said, "This is the grace given to our family Youzhen by the Holy One, not the grace given to the entire Xu family, you should figure it out."

"Whoever yells here again will not be given a seat."

After a pause, he continued: "However, I, Xu Shiyi, have always been fair since I became the patriarch, so this time is no exception. In this way, there will be thirty strong men from the big village and ten from the small village, and I will go to Dongshan Village tomorrow. The drying yard is assembled, and I will pick out 270 strong men from it and take them away, but..."

After another pause, Xu Shiyi said again: "But don't you guys play tricks on me, lame, blind, deaf and other crooked melons and jujubes, and green skins that are not worth four or six, so don't use them to make up for it."

"I just want a strong and honest person." Xu Yingwei said.

"But once hired, 1 tael of silver will be given on the spot, which is a special grace bestowed by the Holy One."

"Have you heard that?" Xu Shiyi glanced around and said again, "The whole grandma is only this big. I know what kind of character a child of that family is. Don't try to get the head of the clan."

Dozens of Li chiefs, Jia chiefs, and clan elders present hurriedly declared that they did not dare.

"This is the specific matter." Xu Shiyi waved his hand and said domineeringly, "Go back."

After seeing off a group of village chiefs, armor chiefs, and clan elders, Xu Shiyi suddenly became interested and said to Xu Yingwei, "Youzhen, go for a walk on the ancestral grave with father."

"Father, what are you doing at the ancestral tomb at night?" Xu Yingwei asked in amazement.

"If you are told to go, go, what are you talking about." Xu Shiyi turned around and left.

Xu Yingwei hurriedly asked Wu Niu and another long-term worker to light up the lanterns and accompany them up the mountain.

After climbing for almost half an hour, the father and son came to a large grave, Xu Shiyi said: "Youzhen, it has been more than a thousand years since the first ancestor of our grandfather Xu's family moved to Laodong during the Wude period of the Tang Dynasty. For more than a thousand years, our grandparent Xu has never produced any big names."

After a pause, he continued: "But the night before yesterday, Dad had a strange dream. He dreamed that a dazzling star whizzed down from the sky and landed on the ancestral tomb of our Xu family. The whole ancestral tomb was full of smoke .”

"Heh." Xu Yingwei couldn't help laughing, "Father, this is a good thing, the ancestral grave is smoking."

"Don't laugh, Daddy is serious." Xu Shiyi said, "Father thinks that this dream is likely to happen to you. In the future, if you are not sure, you will worship the general, so you have to be cautious in the court. Be careful, make friends with your colleagues, the glory of our grandparents, the Xu family, rests on you, Youzhen."