Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 44: How can a salted fish be in vain?
After discussing some things, Xu Xin'an and Xu Sihu followed Xu Huaiqian back to Lutainan Village.
Xu Huai used to be clumsy, and his mother was afraid that he would get into trouble or get lost, so she kept a close eye on him. However, he was not as familiar with the peaks and ridges outside Yuhuangling as Xu Xin'an and the others.
Xu Xin'an is fine. Xu Sihu and his father, who had passed away long ago, were both hunters in Nanzhai in their early years. They were good at walking and shooting, and he knew which places in the mountains were relatively easy to walk.
They still had to find a shortcut through the mountains to facilitate travel between the two sides. After all, not everyone could be like Xu Huai, with such skills and strong physique to venture into the deep mountains and forests.
"Originally there was a fallen tree here, we could step on it to get over there..."
Xu Sihu, who is only 24 years old this year, is tall and strong. He led Xu Huai and Xu Xin'an out of the bushes, but their way was blocked by a deep ditch more than three meters wide.
The big tree that had originally fallen across the ravine was washed away by the mountain torrent at some point, and they were blocked on one side of the ravine.
Xu Huai stuck his head out and looked down. The rift was about 20 to 30 feet deep and very steep. The mud and rocks were slippery, and there was shallow water flowing at the bottom. There were many big trees on both sides, so it seemed that he needed to get some axes and saw them across.
With limited manpower, it would take too much time to build a wooden bridge, but it was easy to cut down two or three large trees from the side and drag them across the stream to facilitate walking.
Apart from this deep ditch which was difficult to bypass, the three of them groped their way forward among the bushes and grass. There were many steep slopes along the way, but none of them were too high.
In the past, when Xu Sihu and his companions went into the mountains to hunt, they could just slide down this steep slope. In the future, if they want to make it easier to walk, they can just chisel some stone steps. Or even simpler, they can just temporarily place simple bamboo or wooden ladders. Xu Xin'an, Xu Sihu and others can all think of these solutions.
Generally speaking, there is no road between Yuhuangling and Jinshagou, mainly because few people walked there in the past. However, it is not difficult to open a small path for a small group of people to enter and exit.
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When Xu Huai, Xu Xin'an and Xu Sihu arrived at the South Village, Xu Wuliang had already prepared an axe, saw, fire stick and an iron pot, and was waiting in the forest outside the village. Xu Xin'an and Xu Sihu did not delay and took these necessities and returned to Jinshagou.
Xu Huaize and Xu Wuliang returned to their home in Nanzhai first.
Xu Huai's father, Xu Wuxuan, had just returned to Tongbai Mountain and was relatively well off, so he built a courtyard with two entrances, front and back.
Although more than ten years have passed, even though Xu Huai has not been in the village for the past two years, Su Di's parents usually help take care of the yard, so it is always clean and does not look shabby.
Xu Wuliang's parents died early. When he returned to Tongbai Mountain from the Jingsheng Army, he had no place to stay in Nanzhai, and the thatched cottage left for him by his parents also collapsed, so he had to marry into a family in Huaiyuan Town. This time, his family of three and Liu Qiong'er temporarily lived in Xu Huai's house.
Under the current circumstances, Liu Qiong'er dared not return to Huaiyuan Town, and left the Qinzhai to be looked after by two ignorant maids, Madam Xu and Madam Zhou. She watched Xu Huai and Xu Wuliang come back, and waited for Xu Huai under the eaves of the west wing, asking, "Are you really just going to leave Mr. Wang Bin alone?"
"I can't take care of myself, how can I care about too many things?" Xu Huai said with a wry smile.
"How did you seduce me in Yuehonglou? Have you forgotten so quickly?" Liu Qiong'er asked.
"I'm not even sixteen years old, so don't slander me." Xu Huai said.
Liu Qiong'er glared at Xu Huai with her beautiful eyes and said, "There is no way out for people who become bandits. Your father was able to return home clean because he met a noble man like Wang Xiaocheng. Do you really not expect Wang Bing to make a comeback?"
"Don't count on it." Xu Huai said unhappily.
According to a short textual memory in later generations, Wang Bing's death by bandits did not cause any commotion. This was enough to indirectly prove how difficult it would be for Wang Bing to make a comeback - the old emperor didn't care about him at all.
Xu Huai had no extravagant hopes that Wang Bing would make a comeback, but Liu Qiong'er definitely didn't think so.
During the past few years that Liu Qiong'er had lived a life of luxury, it could be said that things would change after she was redeemed. However, she could not imagine what good fate awaited her, a woman so weak and beautiful that people coveted, if she became a bandit.
She had hopes that Wang Bing would make a comeback.
Liu Qiong'er coaxed him, "Even if you don't expect anything, many of the soldiers don't have any hope in their hearts. Are they really willing to follow you and become bandits? Don't they have any other ideas in their hearts?"
"..." Xu Huai patted his head, looked at Liu Qiong'er and said, "You really are a female Zhuge Liang. I didn't even think of this!"
Becoming a bandit is definitely not a romantic thing of drinking and eating meat.
The soldiers were not vicious criminals. They were all ordinary people who cared deeply about their families. It might be okay for them to stay in Jinshagou for ten days or half a month, but it would be hard to say what would happen after three to five months.
Xu Huai could also see that this was the issue Xu Wujiang was most worried about, and everything else was secondary.
Regardless of how great Wang Bing's hopes of making a comeback are, nothing can keep people's hearts hanging at the moment more than this.
If a person has no hope, what is the difference between him and a salted fish?
He had used this reason to deceive Liu Qiong'er before , but he didn't think of this at this moment. It was thanks to Liu Qiong'er who reminded him.
However, if they want to use Wang Bing's comeback to whet people's morale, they must first make sure that Wang Bing does not die in Huaiyuan. This is going to be the same again!
"Brother Wuliang!"
At this moment, someone peeked over from outside the bamboo fence and called out Xu Wuliang.
Su Di and Xu Wuliang are responsible for settling the family in Lutainan Village.
Su Di's father, Su Laochang, has been renting land and farming in Yuhuangling in recent years. He has been carrying the plow on his back and plowing the fields, and is no different from the villagers in Tongbai Mountain. However, perhaps because he was forced to flee famine in his early years, he has some experience and knowledge. He is also strong and powerful, and has learned boxing and martial arts. He has a high prestige among the villagers with other surnames.
With Su Di, Xu Wuliang, Su Laochang and others in charge in the front, Xu Huai was responsible for pretending to be stupid.
When he had nothing to do, he would take a walk around the yard of Xu Zhongyu, the head of the Nanzhai family, to prevent him from coming out to restrain Su Di and the others, and to make it convenient for him to escape and go to Jinshagou to contact Xu Wujiang and the others.
When Xu Huai saw that the person coming was Xu Xin'an's father Xu Guanshan, he stood silently under the eaves of the west wing.
"Guanshan, what do you want to talk to me about?" Xu Wuliang walked out of the house and waved to Xu Guanshan to come into the yard to talk.
Xu Guanshan walked in and looked at Xu Huai and Liu Qiong'er with some hesitation.
Liu Qiong'er turned around and walked back into the house. Xu Guanshan then spoke to Xu Wuliang, "These people have all moved to the South Village, but the fields that each family rents are scattered, and we can't ask everyone not to work in the fields . What do you think we should do about this?"
Among the many Wu soldiers, except Xu Wujiang who had purchased a dozen acres of thin land in recent years and had some wealth, the others were all poor.
Families without able-bodied laborers would often weave cloth and pick mulberry leaves; those with able-bodied laborers would farm the fields owned by wealthy households in the tribe; some would also work long or short term for wealthy households or their own families.
In short, relying solely on the salary from the soldiers, it is not possible to feed the family, and it is impossible for them to sit back and wait for others to support them.
Now Su Di, Xu Wuliang and others have moved all the families to the South Village to live together. This is an easy thing to do. They are poor and don't have to be too particular. A few thatched huts will be enough. However, it will be difficult to prevent them from working during the day.
The most important thing is that there are few and poor fields near Nanzhai. Many families in Nanzhai have to go to Qingliuzhai on both sides of the ridge to the north to farm, which is quite far away.
"I know. I'll go find Su Laochang later and ask him and Di Niang what they think about this matter."
Xu Wuliang first perfunctorily dealt with Xu Guanshan, and after he left, he looked at Xu Huai who was sitting on the muddy ground and said,
"This is a problem - Xu Wufu and Xu Heng, father and son, have not made any moves today, but they must be harboring evil intentions. I'm afraid he will take advantage of my family working outside the village and run over to cause trouble."
Xu Huai knocked on the door and pushed it open. Seeing Liu Qiong'er standing on the inside listening, he said, "Have you come up with any ideas?"
Although she was dragged into this and that by Xu Huai, and she couldn't help feeling resentful, and she knew Xu Huai's true face best, but Liu Qiong'er had been entertaining guests at Yuehonglou for many years, and had experienced the world of work for a long time, so she had no problem flirting with Xu Huai, and she also considered herself older than him from the bottom of her heart.
In front of Xu Wuliang, Liu Qiong'er still maintained a dignified posture, fearing that her background would be looked down upon:
"Common people work to have enough food and clothing. For those who are used to working, it is no problem to ask them to stay in Nanzhai for three to five days. But how can they stay still after seven or eight days? We were too hasty before and did not think it through. But there is a way to remedy this. Xu Huai took advantage of the situation and got a lot of gold and silver from Deng Gui. He gave up all the land that the families rented outside Nanzhai and rented land near Nanzhai. Or he could find a livelihood near Nanzhai that can settle the family down. He could even directly organize people to reclaim wasteland and keep the families busy. Of course, the wealthy families of the Xu family basically follow the lead of Xu Wufu. If we ask the families to discuss this matter separately, they will definitely be evaded. You should take the lead to promote this matter!"
"..." Xu Wuliang looked at Xu Huai hesitantly. Liu Qiong'er's idea sounded good, but the gold and silver were obtained by Xu Huai from Deng Gui. In his opinion, they belonged to Xu Huai, and Xu Huai had to make the decision.
"Uncle Wuliang, let Miss Liu take care of the gold and silver in the future. Any expenses that Aunt Seventeen needs can be obtained from Miss Liu..." Xu Huai said to Xu Wuliang.
After sneaking into Deng Gui's house and reading the secret letter the day before yesterday, he went straight out of the military camp to meet Liu Qiong'er and Xu Wuliang, and handed the small bag of gold and silver to Xu Wuliang to keep for him.
Unless he abandons others and runs away now, money is just a thing outside of his body at this critical juncture.
At the same time, he also felt that he should find something for Liu Qiong'er to do.
"Well, I'll go talk to Mr. Su about this now!"
Xu Huai said so, and Xu Wuliang agreed. He went back to the house, took the bag of gold and silver from his wife Ge, gave it to Liu Qiong'er, then took his shoulder knife and went to discuss these matters with Su Laochang and Su Di.
Xu Wujiang's savings over the years were limited. After spending dozens of strings of money today, Su Di's pockets were empty. There were still many things to do next. How could he do without money and food? Even in Xu Wuliang's mind, these gold and silver belonged to Xu Huai, but it was not a big deal to borrow them temporarily. He just needed to keep the accounts clear.
