Volume 1 In the Countryside Chapter 58: Past Events and Determination
Of the thirty-two horses, twenty-seven were mostly intact or slightly injured, two were lame, and three had serious injuries. After all, even if the blowgun was intended to injure people rather than horses, it would be impossible to do it so precisely in the chaos at the entrance of the bamboo forest, so this harvest was already very good.
These were the spoils left for Rongshui Village after Xiong Yi's cavalry left with the captives.
Last night, except for Zhang Chen and Lu Sanlang, all the young masters were sleeping soundly after being drugged. It was shameless enough for them to share the credit, and no one was too embarrassed to covet any spoils.
Even Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu, who were not valued and were actually quite short of money, would never dare to ask for it. As for Zhang Chen and Lu Sanlang, one was rich and powerful, and the other was self-proclaimed wise, they would not stand up to argue.
So Zhang Shou called together Yang Laoguan and others and told them about the temporary stay of the warhorse. From Yang Laoguan, who was always obsessed with money, a large number of villagers were overjoyed. However, after Zhang Shou clapped his hands, they immediately quieted down.
"Although the commander Xiong only took away the people and not the horses, the horses still belong to Linhai Camp. So now we can only say that we are temporarily borrowing these horses. I have told Yingying that she will send someone to Linhai Camp to return the lame and injured horses. The remaining horses will of course be used by everyone in the village."
Before the villagers could express their joy and thank him, Zhang Shou revealed another intention.
"I told Commander Xiong that we should keep these horses to plow the fields and compensate for the disturbance of the countryside by the rebellious army. But you should all understand that the war horses in the Linhai Camp may not be able to plow the fields. Besides, it is very expensive to feed horses. Instead of wasting horsepower on plowing the fields, it is better to use most of them to pull carts and transport the newly harvested rice and other vegetables to the capital to sell immediately, and also take along the silk threads and other things that have been accumulated over time."
There are not many large livestock in the entire Rongshui Village, especially livestock suitable for long-distance transportation of goods. If Wu had not been a kind-hearted "landlord" who often lent his horse to villagers to transport goods to the market, the villagers' lives would have become even more difficult if they had only relied on manpower to transport things to the city.
When the villagers heard Zhang Shou's words, they were even more surprised. Especially when Zhang Shou said that he would accompany them to the capital, everyone knew that this trip to the capital would definitely save a lot of money and make a lot of money.
Apart from anything else, if Zhang Shou goes there, it means that people from the Duke of Zhao's Mansion will follow him, and maybe Miss Zhu will go with him. Then, even if he has to pay taxes when entering and leaving the city gate, he will not be exploited, and no one will dare to bully him at the market!
"Okay, I've finished. Everyone hurry home to pack up and take inventory. Tomorrow is August 16th, so we'll go to the capital on the 17th or 18th. Everyone, take good care of the horses for two days, then prepare everything for the trip to the capital. Everyone should work out who will go and who will stay."
The villagers left happily, but Yang Laoguan was the last to leave. After walking a few steps, the oldest man in the village suddenly turned around and walked back . Seeing that Zhang Shou had not left, he was standing at the entrance of the village watching the women clean up the messy banquet, as if in a trance, so he went forward and coughed.
"Does the uncle have anything else to say?"
"You should tell me if I have anything else to ask you." Zhang Shou glanced at the old man unhappily, and then said directly, "You have been playing tricks on me for so long, isn't it time to tell the truth now? You and many other people in the village were arranged by Duke Zhao to take care of us orphans and widows, right?"
This time, Mr. Yang did not avoid the topic and his eyes were no longer as wandering as before.
He sighed and touched his head which was already half bald. "Yes, that's what the son-in-law thought. However, the Duke didn't say that he was taking care of his future son-in-law. He just said that he was taking care of the wife and children of an old friend of his. The orphans and widows depended on each other for survival, but they had a lot of land and were afraid that they would be bullied."
Zhang Shou listened quietly, without questioning or interrupting Yang Laoguan's story.
"I and the others all served under the Duke. He was still young at the time, and he fought bravely and courageously with Grandpa Ruizong. He served at his side and made great achievements. He was not like a relative of the emperor at all. The most valuable thing was that he was considerate of the old and weak soldiers."
"The Duke reported to Grandpa Ruizong that many people were injured in the Northern Expedition, including me, and compensated them with money and food one by one... Alas, it's a pity that Grandpa Ruizong died early, and when he came to the throne... Well, let's not talk about the past!"
"My family is ordinary. When the Duke found me, my two sons had just given birth to grandchildren, and my family was very poor. So when the Duke asked me to come and take care of the orphans and widows, I agreed immediately and moved my family here, and I met Deng Erniu and his group."
"To be honest, I have watched my son-in-law grow up since he was a child. You were shy and weak when you were young, and you rarely went out. Later, after you recovered from your illness, you often went out. In the past three years, I have seen you grow up more and more like a fairy in the painting. You are willing to help us teach our children. I never dared to think that they could recite poems . I really didn't expect that the Duke would entrust us with our future son-in-law."
Listening to the incoherent words of Mr. Yang, Zhang Shou finally couldn't help asking, "But Duke Zhao asked you to move here to take care of us mother and son, but he didn't take care of you much. Don't you think this life is too hard?"
"My son-in-law, how else can I take care of him?" Old Yang shook his head and suddenly stretched out his hand to spread the dense wrinkles on his forehead. "I am not a brave general who can kill generals and seize flags. To put it bluntly, I am just a soldier, and I am even more useless when I am old. I am very surprised that Duke Zhao remembered me. If I hadn't moved here, my two grandsons would have starved to death. Where can I find such kind-hearted hosts as my son-in-law and my wife?"
Zhang Shou was slightly stunned, then smiled bitterly and said, "That's not the case. If we were an orphan and a widow in an ordinary village, we would have been eaten by others without leaving a drop of blood or flesh."
Old Yang smiled easily, "It's a matter of each taking what he needs. My son, wife, grandson, and I are all alive, and so are other families. Except for those who died of illness or old age, we have all lived a peaceful life. My son-in-law has grown up safely, and now he has met the eldest lady, who is taking in students and suppressing rebellions. I will help out as much as I can. When I think about it, I feel that it is all thanks to Duke Zhao."
"You're right, it's all thanks to Duke Zhao." Although Zhang Shou didn't ask what Yang Laoguan did in the army, he had already asked most of the information he wanted to know, so he didn't ask any more questions.
After Mr. Yang said goodbye with a smile and walked away for a long distance with a staggering gait, he suddenly turned around and looked at him again. A sly smile appeared on his old, wrinkled face. He then had an idea and quickly turned around.
Sure enough, Zhu Ying was standing at the wall not far behind him, and her eyes seemed slightly red.
He was just slightly stunned and then walked forward, then without saying anything, he took out a handkerchief and handed it to her. Who knew that the young lady didn't take it at all, but took out a handkerchief from her sleeve and handed it to him.
"You gave me one last night, have you forgotten?" Seeing Zhang Shou burst into laughter, Zhu Ying took a deep breath, "I just happened to see you talking, so I came over to listen. Who knew that he was so old but still as sharp-eyed and sharp-eared as a young man, and found out that I was pretending not to know... Ah Shou, thank you, you obviously have a lot of confusion yourself, but you still comforted me last night!"
Thinking that it was unnecessary to comfort Zhu Ying with words, Zhang Shou smiled and took back the handkerchief in his hand.
"Yingying, I don't know if you heard it just now. In a couple of days, when the villagers go to the capital to sell things, I plan to go with them and take a look at the capital."
Seeing Zhu Ying was stunned at first, and then revealed an expression of surprise and confusion, he smiled and said, "In fact, if it weren't for my mother's close attention in the past few years, and Yang Laoguan and the others who were watching me all the time, I would have wanted to leave a long time ago."
"A Shou, I miss my father and elder brother too, and I want to know their exact news, so I will go to the capital with you!"
Zhu Ying finally made a decision. She raised her head and said sincerely, "I'll go talk to Aunt Wu. If she's worried, she can go with us. Why don't we all stay at my house in Beijing for two days ? Of course, if you're worried about gossips at my place, I can have someone book a clean and elegant inn for you and others to stay in, so that you don't get gossiped about!"
Faced with such a decisive young lady, Zhang Shou suddenly wanted to hug her.
This was a thought that had never occurred to him in his new life, but at this moment, he just smiled at her.
"Okay, then let's go see the place where you grew up!"
