My Chinese ancestors

Chapter 24 Starting to Form

In the past seven or eight days, Ding'an City has not changed much. There is only a hint of green in the surrounding fields. Although the heavy rain has come, it will be late and miss the best reclamation period in the second half of the year, making it impossible to plant crops.

When Su Chen and others returned, there were still many victims gathered outside Dongcheng, huddled on the ground, or huddled in simple huts made of branches and thatch with their families, waiting for a daily ration. Only in the spring of next year will we have hope.

At this time, the sound of horse hooves was heard on the ground. Someone among the victims raised his head and saw the figure of a war horse galloping past him. The horse's hooves slammed down on the ground and rushed straight towards the city gate. In the blink of an eye, more than two hundred horses escorted a carriage. Follow closely.

"Give me something to eat!"

"Give me some charity, the child is going to starve to death."

Some victims of the disaster rushed over, and the crowds of people around them rose from the ground and crowded towards this side. Thousands of hands were raised in the air, hoping to catch the thrown buns immediately. However, what fell was a loud bang. Whip crack.

"Go away!" Dong Zhuo tightened the reins. He was a bloody man and was easily angered. He was overwhelmed by the swarming victims and could not move. He casually swung his whip and whipped a mother and daughter who were approaching. The woman was holding three children in her arms. The [-]-year-old girl lowered her head and still raised her hands, not wanting to miss the chance to catch food.

"Mr. Dong!"

Su Chen squeezed over on horseback, stopped him and shook his head. However, Su Chen did not show any unbearable expression on his face. Instead, he pulled out the long sword at his waist with a clang sound, and his cold eyes swept across the panic-stricken photos. Dish's face.

"You guys, please step back and don't take another step forward. Marquis Anding came back from the city just to get everyone's rations. Get back quickly and don't attack the city gate. Otherwise, we will regard you as rebels and we will kill you without mercy!"

All around, the cavalrymen all drew out their swords, and the armored soldiers guarding the carriage raised their spears with a bang, their eyes full of coldness, causing the victims around them to immediately step back.

Seeing this, the guard on the city tower hurriedly asked the soldiers below to open the city gate, sent out two teams of soldiers, and moved the horses to both sides to prevent the victims from rushing in when the Marquis' team entered the city.

Fortunately, these things did not happen. When we entered the city, the streets were as they were before leaving, with only twos and threes of pedestrians passing by in a hurry. Compared with Yunqi County, it was much bleak.

Horse hooves stepped on the hard soil of the street. Dong Zhuo looked at the street scene of buildings on both sides. It was not much different from what he imagined. He suddenly smiled.

"When you drew your sword and made that expression just now, you were actually saving those victims. You were afraid of offending Dong, so you killed them in a fit of rage."

"Yes, but not all."

Occasionally a few pedestrians pass by on the street, and vendors selling snacks are shouting along the street. Although there are not as many as before the drought, there are always one or two people sitting down and having something to eat.Su Chen glanced at the vendor and saw that it was a familiar face. He turned back and continued: "If intercepting convoys becomes a routine, it will boost their momentum and make them feel that they can stop any vehicle. If they have a bad temper next time, they may Die in vain.”

"Chang Sheng values ​​these disheveled ants?" Dong Zhuo frowned and looked at the young man aside.

Su Chen nodded, looked back at the carriage in the team, and urged the horse to move forward: "The country is a towering tree, and the people are the roots of the tree. Killing the people is digging up the roots. Only tens of thousands of people can raise an elite army."

Dong Zhuo had heard these similar arguments before, but unfortunately he didn't take them to heart. Later, he launched troops to loot and kill indiscriminately, and he didn't care about the people. He always felt that he couldn't kill them all, and in a few years, many more would appear. People.

"Dong has learned a lesson!"

He nodded in response, but didn't take it seriously.Su Chen was not in a hurry to change the other person's ideas. He just smiled and speeded back to the house. He stopped the horse at the gate of the house and turned over. He threw the reins to the soldier at the door, and then took Dong Zhuo to visit him first. Mother, the eldest brother is busy at the government office and is not at home. The eldest sister-in-law is busy with mother in the garden.

"Where is your father?" The old woman looked at the crown on her son's head, smiled and looked around, then her eyes fell on the plump figure in front of her, who was about fifty years old, "Who is this?"

"My new recruit has some martial arts skills, so I will take them with me."

Dong Zhuo listened to Su Chen's words and did not refute. After all, when he first came to this world, he had no status and could just take whatever Su Chen said. However, when he saw the woman serving beside the old woman, his eyes couldn't help but brighten. Come out with light.

"The father is still behind, so the child will go back first."

Su Chen tugged at the corners of Dong Zhuo's sleeves. After the two left here, Su Chen reminded him in the corridor: "Dong Gong wants a woman. There are many brothels outside, but the ones at home cannot mess around. Could it be that Mr. Dong has forgotten what Cai Shizhong did?" You want to make the same mistake again?"

"Ha ha!"

Dong Zhuo originally wanted to retort a few words, but when he heard the word 'Cai Yong', he suddenly laughed heartily: "Don't underestimate Dong in your life. If you didn't have resentment in your heart and stayed in a bitter cold place for many years, otherwise you wouldn't When I arrived in Luoyang, I became selfless for a while."

The two of them talked and returned to the south wing courtyard. Thirteen had not returned yet, but Zhu Gongdao was practicing martial arts in the courtyard. He heard a rough voice speaking in the distance. He stopped the spear in his hand and looked at the fat black man following Su Chen. His eyes suddenly closed half-closed.

"Greetings to the Third Young Master." Zhu Gongdao is from Lulin, and he has always been more respectful to Su Chen in terms of titles.

After hearing Su Chen's introduction to Dong Zhuo, Zhu Gongdao almost drew his gun and stabbed him. Although he only appeared many years after Dong Zhuo, he had still heard about the things that caused chaos in the imperial court, burned down Luoyang, and sent troops to kill people.

"Hmph!" Zhu Gongdao glanced at Dong Zhuo coldly and didn't even want to pay attention. He raised his spear and followed Su Chen. Passing by the flower garden, Su Chen bowed his hands to the figure carrying the medicine basket, and then walked into the ancestral hall.

The Taoist priest who recited sutras came up and bowed. Su Chen handed the tablet of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty into his hands. The Taoist priest respectfully held the tablet and placed it back on the altar table.

"The late emperor is also here..." Dong Zhuo looked at the statue of a spiritual leader above, and his eyes fell on the name of Han Ling Emperor Liu Hong. Then he looked at Liu Xie's name. He turned around and said, "Changsheng, can you summon your majesty? Dong…want to meet him.”

"Didn't Mr. Dong see you just now? They were the ones pulling weeds outside." Dong Zhuo was stunned for a moment and pointed outside: "Do you want your Majesty to go pull weeds?"

After saying that, he turned around and rushed out of the ancestral hall.

Su Chen laughed twice, walked to the altar table, took the fragrance from Zhu Gongdao, raised it above his head and bowed, then knelt down on the futon, closed his eyes, and the merit bar in his mind, excluding the six thousand consumed Points, after rescuing Wu Zixun and others, he got [-]. Now it remains at [-]. Including the increase given by the three Zhang Jiao brothers in the recent period, the total is more than [-].

I really haven't been this rich for a long time.

Even if an emperor is unlocked, there are still points left to recruit Lu Bu.

"Your Majesty the ancestors of China, Su Chen, the descendants of future generations, pays homage to you."

As he bowed down the long incense he held above his head, the speed of the merit bar visible to the naked eye decreased, and it finally stopped when it reached more than 2000 points.

Above the serving table.

There was something like a broken sound, and the spiritual positions were arranged in an orderly manner without any changes.

'It should be the same as before, it needs to be in a dream. '

Su Chen looked at the densely packed souls above and guessed this. After bowing, he came out of the ancestral hall and saw Dong Zhuo standing in front of the old man weeding, muttering something unknown.
At the moment, he still had many things to do. He went back to his house to sort out the formation of troops and horses, and left the remaining matters of how to train them to Dong Zhuo.

The daily food supply and monthly salary for the soldiers were a large expense. With his savings over the years, combined with the current prices in Ding'an City, he could only recruit 2000 people to supply him for half a year.

This does not include horses, weapons, armor, and building camps.

On the other hand, the victims of the disaster in Ding'an City must be stabilized as soon as possible, and enough food must be provided. If the city is stable, prices will fall, and the expenses will be much less.

Su Chen was thinking about sorting out the simple charter while waiting for Dong Zhuo to come over. After half an hour, the pot-bellied Dong Zhuo strode into the hall with a happy look on his face, looking at the content on the paper with fierce eyes, and then , slapped the paper on the table with his big hands.

"Changsheng, you can first recruit soldiers and get five hundred sets of armor and weapons. Dong will train these soldiers and horses first. Don't you want to inquire about the Huangshen Cult before? If there is really a branch here, there must be gold, silver and food."

He waved boldly and then made a fist.

"...I led the troops to 'borrow' them all for use."

Su Chen Da Ma Jin Dao sat on the chair, grinning, and nodded in agreement with Dong Zhuo's proposal.

As for the upfront expenses.

Su Chen thought of a place where a lot of money was hidden.

……

The sky is getting dark, in the backyard of Su Mansion.

The window lattice reflects the warm yellow light. Su Congfang warms her feet comfortably. While talking to her old wife about what happened in Yunqi County, she scolds Su Chen for being messy and ignorant. However, the wife opposite her pursed her lips and smiled. Su Congfang cursed, and the stubborn old man also laughed. In fact, all his words were worried about his son's safety.

Soon, Su Congfang still had business to deal with. Under the guidance of the maid carrying a lantern, he entered the study. Once the door was closed, he opened the darkroom in the room. It was full of private money that he had secretly saved over the years. Six large boxes.

Every time he goes out and comes back, he has to go in and take a look before he feels reassured.

The old man held a candle and walked into the secret door behind the bookshelf. He touched the heavy wooden boxes inside and opened the lid with comfort. When he saw the inside, the smile on his face instantly froze.

"He's his mother!"

He hurriedly opened the other five large boxes, which were also empty. There was only a note pressed at the bottom of the box, with a line written on it: Dad, I borrowed the money.

"Borrow...borrow...borrow it!"

Su Congfang held the note dumbfounded, the corners of her mouth twitched slightly, and sat down on the ground.

"You have to remember to pay back what you saved as a father with great difficulty..."

He sat on the ground and murmured.

(End of this chapter)