Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1562 Master
When I returned to Zhou Village, Jinxian Township, Hailong County, it was already early March.

Annan Ruantong's family went through hardships and came to this place where they will live for the rest of their lives.

Before reaching the entrance of the village, I heard a burst of dog barking.

The two children were so frightened that they hid behind their parents, holding their hands tightly by the corners of their clothes.

My lord looked up, but saw more than a dozen horsemen galloping across the field, chasing two hares, one gray and one black.

The rabbit moved very flexibly, turning sharply from time to time, trying to get rid of the horse.But the hound was more alert, and immediately stepped forward to block it, forcing it to return to its original route.

"Whoosh!" An arrow flew out, nailing the black hare to the ground.

"Haha, I hit it." A boy in fur shouted happily.

"Whoosh!" Another arrow flew out from behind and hit the gray rabbit.

The rabbit was carried away by the force of the arrow, rolled a few times on the ground, then swept its legs convulsively, kicked, and died.

The rest of the teenagers all sighed, their faces full of disappointment.

An Feihu laughed out loud, and said, "Chen Jingang, your grandfather didn't learn half a point of his martial arts. If this continues, let your younger brother be a soldier in the government in the future, and you can farm the land honestly. "

As the saying goes, "Military books have twelve volumes, and the volumes have the name of the master", not everyone can be a soldier.Only those registered in the military register are government soldiers, and they are exempt from tax and corvee.Those without names are ordinary people without any privileges.

Chen Jingang yelled angrily when he heard the words, and all his playmates laughed.

Looking at those young men who went away, Ruan Tong was stunned.

He also served as a soldier and touched arrows.In his eyes, the martial arts of these teenagers are really not bad. They can make various movements on horseback, and they obviously practice often.Look at their bodies, they are strong and burly. If they were in Aizhou, they would definitely be recruited by the officials as guards, and they would serve them with good wine and good meat.

But in Liaodong, there seem to be many such teenagers.

The children of military households practiced martial arts since childhood. They are physically strong, familiar with various weapons, and have simple military knowledge. They also have an extraordinary tacit understanding and cooperation with their peers in hunting and playing all year round.

What a high-quality source of soldiers!A county recruits thousands of people, with the township party and clan as the link, after a rough training, equipped with suitable equipment, they will become a qualified army.

With such a high-quality source of soldiers, the rule of the Xia Dynasty seems to be as stable as Mount Tai, unless these so-called good families rebel themselves.

Ruan Tong lowered his head and led his wife and children into the village.

An Feihu greeted a few familiar people, talking and laughing loudly.

The villagers looked at the new family carefully, and said with a smile: "This woman is beautiful, I feel sorry for her."

"Get out!" An Feihu lowered his face, and said, "They are all mine. If you have any dirty thoughts, first weigh whether your neck is stiff or my knife is stiff."

The crowd laughed endlessly and dispersed one after another.

An Feihu didn't care either.This place in Liaodong is just like this bird.

If you are not ruthless, gentle and courteous, it is really difficult to move an inch.

After returning to An's house, Ruan Tong saw an equipment rack in the yard, on which were hung spears, rifles, long axes, epees, horizontal knives and other weapons. The heat is practicing.

They obviously knew that someone was back, but they still insisted on coming over to salute after the duel practice: "Grandpa."

An Feihu nodded, casually pointed out the mistakes made by the two teenagers during practice, and then sent them to rest.

"Follow me." An Feihu beckoned, letting the four members of the Ruan family follow.

They came to a place that looked like a warehouse.

An Feihu opened the door, pointed to the corner of the wall, and said, "This is your bedding. It's a bit dirty, but it's warm enough. Take it away. I'll go to the west wall to pull a few bundles of thatch later, lay it on the bed, and sleep well." It’s more comfortable. You can also move some firewood, but tomorrow I’ll come to chop firewood, so I’ll make up for it.”

After speaking, he realized that these people couldn't understand what he said, and he was a little annoyed.

But it's not a big deal, just make a few gestures and you'll understand.

Ruan Tong really understood, he rolled up his bedding and hugged him in his arms.

An Feihu didn't speak at all, and pointed to another place: it was rice cooker, earthen jar, wooden spoon, wooden bowl, etc., and a bag of beans.

Afterwards, he took Ruan Tong to the backyard again, opened the courtyard door, pointed to a dilapidated thatched hut more than ten steps away, and said, "This is your home. It's a bit shabby, but it can be lived in. From now on, when you have money, But it can be repaired by yourself, or it can be rebuilt, I don’t care.”

Regardless of whether he understood or not, Ruan Tong just nodded his head.

An Feihu sneered, and said, "Go away, don't forget to chop firewood tomorrow."

When Ruan Tong saw his gesture of driving people away, he immediately understood and thanked him for leaving.

An Feihu closed the door and went straight to the front yard.

The two sons practiced again.

Each of them has a birch bow and is practicing archery at the target.

There is no doubt that at most one of the two sons can be a soldier.But in Liaodong, it is not a bad thing to practice martial arts, otherwise I am afraid that people will look down on them, and it will not be easy to find a daughter-in-law.

Here is contempt for the weak, very unfriendly and intolerant of vulnerable groups.If you want to survive here and not be bullied by others, you must not be underestimated. Even if someone is really better than you, you have to fight him to the end. At least you can’t admit defeat with your mouth, or if you spread it, you will really lose your face .

Around noon, Mrs. An's wife, Mrs. Liu, cooked a meal and called the family over to eat.

The two teenagers put down their step bows, loosened the strings, and inserted the tip of the bow again.

Practicing martial arts actually consumes a lot of energy.

Not to mention the food, there is not much shortage here in Liaodong.But the consumption of other materials is not a small amount.

Just like this archery, birch bow tips are not cheap, and better ones are more expensive.

Bowstrings are consumables, and you need to find someone to buy them.

Arrows can also be regarded as consumables, and they also need to be bought by someone.

I was accidentally injured during training, and the medicine for bruises is still a consumable, so I have to find someone to buy it.

Let's talk about horseback riding.

Aren't horses consumable?Actually it is.

If you practice a lot, the horse will consume a lot and need to be fed food to restore its strength.

The family also needs to keep at least one fat and strong war horse all year round.After all, the Nanmans all know to select high-quality foals from Yongchang and feed them with rice juice for six or seven years. After they grow up, they will be fed refined grains to maintain their condition.

Grass-fed horses like those of grassland herdsmen are short, small, ugly, and sometimes skinny, and they will not be fat and strong until autumn.When you really need to use that kind of horse, is it easy to use?Anyway, the government soldiers look down on them.

Riding a horse can lower the requirements, just eat grass, and temporarily gain weight before military operations.

In short, it is not a simple matter to support warriors, and the cost is many times that of studying.

In times of peace and prosperity, martial arts practice may not gain much, but it will cost a lot, and the martial arts in the Central Plains may be weakened.And their tradition of frontier soldiers can last for a long time. After all, the land here is sparsely populated, and the land is far from enough.

But there are no absolutes.There is another possibility that the Fubing will collapse, and that is "abuse".

Bring your own armored horses, equipment, and rations, and assemble within the specified time.This kind of consumption is not a big deal once or twice, even three or five times can still be endured, but if it happens every year, and you have to work hard to go on an expedition, then the government soldier will not be an enviable profession, it will be a reminder .

Don't think that such a thing can't happen.

Some frontier officials, his level is very low.

Like Zhang Qiantuo, he wanted to play with Ge Luofeng's wife, causing successive years of war in Yunnan.

Officials like Fan Yang and Pinglu in the former Tang Dynasty often beat and scolded the chieftains, or extorted bribes and even forced people to death, which led to endless wars on the frontier and never a peaceful day.

It is politically clear now, but what about the future?All kinds of shit can happen.

******
After lunch, An Feihu practiced the epee for a while, then changed his clothes and went out for a stroll.

A horse team came to the entrance of the village, under the banner of Li's business.The items on the car are full of beautiful things in eyes, everything is there.

The people in the village hula la circled around, including many fubingbuqu, who also went to pick up goods.

An Feihu took a rough look and wondered, "Li Dashu, is there something new this time?"

"Hey, hey! Don't mess around with your hands." Li Dashu pushed An Feihu's hand away, and said, "This is Yunnan Tonghua cloth. It's rare. If it gets dirty, who do I sell it to?"

"What use is such a short piece of cloth?"

"It's okay to make a pillow or something. Don't touch it if you don't buy it. It's expensive."

"This cloth is too short, I don't even want to give it to me for free." An Feihu curled his lips, and asked again: "This thin cloth is a bit rough."

"Gaochang rough cloth is cheaper. Someone has already ordered it. If you want to buy it, I will leave one for you." Li Dashu said.

"Real cloth or fake cloth?"

"Can this be fake?" Li Dashu laughed angrily, and said: "My second uncle received it in Henan, and the rewards received by the soldiers who accompanied them on the western expedition couldn't be more real."

Hearing that this was a reward from the army, An Feihu's eyes immediately became hot. He picked up a piece of thick cotton cloth, played with it carefully, and couldn't put it down.

After a long time, he sighed, "I bought this horse. Alas, since I can't fight a war, I can only buy some military rewards to enjoy myself."

"Didn't Liaodong have [-] government soldiers enlisted?" Li Dashu asked.

"Only 2000 people. There are tens of thousands of government soldiers in Liaodong, and most of them are staying at home." An Feihu said angrily.

It is true that the government soldiers will consume their own resources, but if they fight well and capture a lot of money, it is possible to not lose money.Not to mention their militant fighters, they are still very envious of the 2000 people who went out.

"When I was in Xianzhou, I heard that the soldiers of the Liaodong government were going to make a big fuss this year." Li Dashu said, "Didn't you hear the news?"

"Who will you hit when you get big?" An Feihu asked casually as he picked out the products absently.

"Could it be Abaoji?" Li Dashu guessed.

"Maybe." An Feihu picked out a few gadgets and bought them together with the piece of Gaochang coarse cotton cloth.

He did hear a little bit of wind, but it was rather messy.

Some people say that A Baoji is always going south to plunder, which is really annoying.The crown prince of Jianguo invites the sages, intending to gather a group of elite soldiers with enough horses to give Abaoji a hard blow.

Some people also said that they should do something to Shi Wei.

Of the [-] departments of Shiwei, only seven or eight went to Heichengzi to meet the alliance, and most of the rest went their own way, and occasionally robbed Liaodong, which made the prince very angry and planned to take them into action.

An Feihu thinks this is a good thing. After cleaning up the thieves, everyone can live in peace.

When he was walking home slowly with his things, he passed the drying yard on the west side of the house.

His family's Bohai trilogy, Yang's, is moving jars out to dry in the sun. Inside are fermented soy sauce and rabbit meat sauce, all of which are the property of An's family.

An Feihu nodded and continued walking forward.

After pushing open the courtyard door, Mrs. Qu Huang from Annan, who came over last spring, was mending fishing nets. When he saw him, he immediately got up and saluted.

An Feihu waved his hand and asked him to continue working.

The fishing nets are also his family's.He has already promised to lend it to Mrs. Huang to go fishing after the spring, so as to supplement the family income.

He once worried that his family's original two series would run away.

But after a few years, I found that he had no intention of running away.After careful questioning, it turned out that the leased and planted [-] mu of land, even if it was divided in half with the owner's family, the remaining grain could still feed a family of five.

During the slack season, if you work harder, such as picking some wild products, harvesting some wild honey, or going fishing like this Annan man, Mrs. Huang, you can get extra income——An Feihu thinks he is a more tolerant person He is too lazy to ask for the "extra money" that the trilogy have obtained through various methods, it is unnecessary.

After the harvest in autumn, An Feihu would sometimes gather the men from the three families together and take them out hunting.

At that time, foxes, rabbits, deer and deer were fat and strong. If luck is not bad, it is not difficult to bring a few back.He will take away the skin, and only part of the meat, most of which will be rewarded to Buqu, so that they can also improve their lives.

All in all, in Liaodong, where the land is sparsely populated and the soil is fertile, the life of the tribes is not very difficult.

It is true that in previous years there were always people who fled.

But after such a long period of running-in, the government soldiers gradually knew how to get along with the trilogy in order to maximize their own interests.Since then, the relationship between host and guest has slowly improved.

If you can eat enough and dress warmly, why bother?

Is it because your family in Bohai is particularly kind-hearted, or is it that the local tyrants in Annan are especially generous, allowing you to eat each and every one of you?is it possible?

Liaodong is to support people.The Great Xia sage gave everyone the chance to live, so we should cherish it.

(End of this chapter)