Start with the humble bridegroom

Chapter 368
In the winter of Zhanghua's 43rd year, Zhang Xinzhi, the prefect of Yunshang County, who had been in office for less than a month, defeated the Mulet and Zhalan tribes among the tribes in northern Yunnan on December 27 and [-].

However, on the fifth day of the first lunar month in Zhang Hua's 44th year, that is, five days after Zhang Xinzhi wiped out the Muller and Zhalan tribes, a major event that shocked the government and the public occurred in Wuling County.

At night, Zhang's Manor, inside an Accord.

The childish voice is babbling, incomparably innocent and romantic.

A lady wearing a blue and white winter jacket with indigo chrysanthemum pattern is playing the piano.

In the five copper plates in the pavilion, silver frost silk charcoal was burning, and four maidservants in green brocade vests were teasing their eldest sister on the thick blanket in front of the lady's piano stand.

Sister Mi angrily pushed away several annoying hands of Bai Lu, and wanted to go to her mother.She is also very interested in the tinkling Yaoqin.

The egrets made her circle on purpose and climbed in the wrong direction.

It's rare for the eldest lady to want to play the piano quietly, but the eldest sister is a hundred times against it.If the Yaoqin came under the hands of the elder sister, either the elder sister's hand would be cut, or the elder sister would dismantle the piano.

Sister Mi was fooled a few times, so she simply sat down, and started howling with her little mouth.

"Mother~~~." Nai Nuo Nai Nuo's voice made her feel uncomfortable.

Bai Juan couldn't bear it, and turned to look at the eldest lady.

But seeing that the eldest lady also abandoned the piano, she was looking at the elder sister with a smile on her chin, a little funny, a little angry, and a little helpless.

"Your father is not here, no matter how much you cry, no one will scold others because of you!" Meng Xiaowan didn't care if the child could understand or not, and teased Miss Mi from left to right.

The maids laughed when they heard this.

Mr. Lang has always been good-tempered, and he never speaks of servants.But if anyone didn't coax the eldest sister well, the husband could scold from the sky to the ground, and the whole family would not dare to say a word.

The days when Lang Jun was at home spoiled Miss Mi.

She plucked the hairs of the dozen or so big dogs in the yard.

Sister Mi looked at her mother with tears in her eyes. After all, seeing Meng Xiaowan's heart softened, she came over to hug her.

"Hee hee hee," Sister Mi, who is over one year old, became happy now. The little girl is very clever, and she doesn't make trouble in her mother's arms, and lives in peace.

Holding the child in her arms, Meng Xiaowan let go of the feelings that had just arisen.

While teasing Miss Mi, she heard hurried footsteps from outside.

Chen's mother opened the door in a panic and came in. She opened her mouth and was about to call out, but when she saw that Sister Mi was there, she forcibly lowered her voice.

"Ma'am, it's not good, there are many people outside Zhuangzi!"

Meng Xiaowan frowned and looked over.

"Have Zhao Ping's people been on the wall? Do you know where it came from?"

"I can't see clearly. The black people in the field are all human heads, old and young, men and women. We have passed the last field row, and it is only half a mile away from our courtyard wall."

Meng Xiaowan gave a soft instruction.

"Nurse, don't panic, go out with me to have a look."

The maids hurriedly put on fox fur for Meng Xiaowan, and Mi Jieer also put on a small buckskin jacket, and the group came to the main hall of the Zhang Family Courtyard.

As soon as Meng Xiaowan walked into the hall with the child in her arms, she found that there were already several people waiting in the hall, including men and women.Several of them were from the Zhuangzi under their own house.

"What happened to Zhuangzi below? Why did they send someone here!"

Hearing the eldest lady's unhurried questioning, some messengers who had lost their minds just now had a backbone for a while.

"Back to the big lady, it's refugees! I don't know how many refugees came from the back mountain trail. When the little ones came from the peach forest on donkeys, there were hundreds of people outside each family's village, and there were probably thousands of people. All of them are skinny like ghosts."

"No,"

"Ma'am, Taowan Zhuangzi is also like this. I'm afraid there will be more than 300 refugees blocking the entrance of the village, just begging for food."

Everyone chattered about it, and Meng Xiaowan's heart skipped a beat immediately.

These refugees all came from the back mountain path, so they should be the people of Shangyin and Lanke counties.Those two counties didn't produce much food, and with the poor economic conditions, it's not surprising that there were refugees.But in the early winter, Wuling gritted his teeth and helped Zou Tian raise grain and store grain.

Later, in response to Mrs. Sun's affection, Meng Xiaowan also took the lead in donating a batch of food to the people of the two counties.But how could there be so many good people suddenly?

The first thing she thought of was what Zhang Zhe told her before parting: Zou Tianyang is an unfamiliar wolf.

After pondering for a while, Meng Xiaowan ordered them to go back immediately.

"Go back immediately and tell all the Zhuangzi that the Zhuangzi is completely sealed off. No one is allowed to take in a single person, let alone give porridge without authorization. If refugees are allowed to enter the Zhuangzi, the entire Zhuangzi will not be able to keep it. It is better to be robbed. Yes, if the house is broken, then it's really over. When people are so hungry, they probably won't care about anything."

All the people who came up from the villages to report got the letter from the eldest lady, and hurried out, but were stopped by the eldest lady again.

"Tell your leaders, no matter how ugly and pitiful Zhuangzi's words are outside, you are not allowed to open the door! If you can't do it, don't blame my Zhang family for being cruel!"

Everyone went as ordered.

Mother Chen, Bai Lu and the others all turned pale. They had never seen the eldest lady be so "ruthless" and drop such heavy words.

Only Mother Hu agrees with Meng Xiaowan's treatment.

"You have never experienced the disaster of refugees. They are pitiful, but if you let them into the village, you will not let a little food go, even the seeds and food will be taken away by you. Let your family starve."

Hu Nanny helped Meng Xiaowan with a few words, and finally she got it right: "When encountering a large number of refugees, either the people outside the wall will die, or the people inside the wall will die! Hey~~."

"Not only that," Meng Xiaowan softly coaxed Sister Mi to sleep, "So many refugees appearing in our Wuling at the same time, I'm afraid it's not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster. None of us can tell what's hidden inside. Anyway, just be careful."

Someone from the second gate came to report again.

"Master Shi from the inspection station is here."

The master Shi in the servant's mouth is Zhang Shitou, who is of the same clan as Zhang Xinzhi, Zhang Sanqi's little friend back then, now his name is Zhang Lei.After Zhang Sanqi left, he was the one who had the final say on the Taowan inspection.

"They are all relatives of the same clan. If there is anything else to report, please come directly to the hall."

When Zhang Lei came in, his face was also anxious.

"Greetings to the eldest lady!"

Meng Xiaowan hurriedly asked someone to help him.

"See what you're talking about? If you recognize the door of our house, you can call me sister-in-law. It's so polite, but it's too natural. Come, serve tea."

Zhang Lei was a little flattered, but when he turned his head and sat down, his buttocks were still only halfway up.

Don't look at Meng Xiaowan being polite to him, he knows that there are people from the Zhang family and the Huang family in the inspection station, if something really happens, Meng Xiaowan only needs to give orders, and it is guaranteed that he will not be able to transfer anyone alone.

So he still refused to change his words.

"Second lady (Meng Xiaowan is the second lady in the Zhang clan, and the eldest lady is Zhang Xiukan's wife), what are your plans now, you want me to transfer the people from the inspection station to Zhuangzi?"

"It's enough for you to have this kind of heart!" Meng Xiaowan shook her head, "Before my husband left, I told you repeatedly that if something happened on the other side of the mountain, none of the people from your inspection station can be called out."

"Then, please, Er Niangzi, go to the county town to take refuge first." Zhang Lei simply said the truth, "You live in Zhuangzi, and we don't feel at ease there, especially the uncle (Zhang Xiukan) has been arguing for the first time. You and your eldest sister will be sent to the county."

"When will you be my master?" Meng Xiaowan's words were slightly joking, but half of Zhang Lei's face turned pale with fright.

"How dare we?" Zhang Lei rubbed the corner of his clothes, "It's not what the uncle said. If I get the approval of the second lady here, I will go back."

"It's not that our wives don't want to leave, it's that we can't go!" Meng Xiaowan explained when serving tea to see off the guests, and gave Zhang Lei the steps, "If our wives leave, the hearts of the people in the village below will be weak. , can no longer guard the gate of the villa. Take care of yourself, just follow the orders of the second master (Zhang Zhe) in the past. I have Zhao Ping leading people to protect me here, so don't be distracted."

Cuidizhuang, fifteen miles away from Taowan, is the largest Zhuangzi of the Zhang family in Wuling County.Not long ago, it was formed by the merger of five small villages. In order to buy this field, both Zhang Zhe and Meng Xiaowan paid a sky-high price of 17 taels per mu.

The newly built Cuidizhuang has more than [-] acres of farmland.Zhuangzi lived in a house full of members of the Zhang family and tenants of the Zhang family.

A man held a wooden stick behind the door, glanced at the old mother, then at the wife and daughter.His mother immediately poohed him.

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up! You just have to remember, don't be soft-hearted. If you can't keep the gate, either they will die, or our grandparents and grandchildren will die."

"Don't look at them as lonely and pitiful outside, but if you let them enter Zhuangzi, they will become wolves and ghosts!"

The man bowed his head in response, picked up the stick and ran out.

The daughter-in-law wanted to call him, but she gave her mother-in-law a timid look.She has always been aggressive, but she didn't know that the gentle mother-in-law in the past still had such a fierce time.

The old woman hugged her 13-year-old granddaughter.

"Let's wait, if your father and the others hold the wall, we can live. If we can't hold it, Ni," the old woman's voice trembled, and a small paper bag that had been placed for many years fell to the girl. In the hand of my son, "Swallow it, and you will suffer less."

The survival rules of ancient farmers are simple and wise, without so many twists and turns.

On the wheat field of Cuidi Village, Old Zhao was standing with a livid face, and men from all over the village came with sticks, hoes, pitchforks, and sickles.Everyone's face was full of blank or apprehensive expressions.

"Dazhuangtou," a man looked at the people behind him and cupped his hands at Old Zhaotou. "It's almost here. You can talk to me!"

Old Zhao raised his voice and spread his voice to every corner of the wheat field.

"The refugees have been begging in the village for half a day after arriving outside the village. In half a day, their number is much larger than that of our whole village combined. Fortunately, our village didn't give out porridge, otherwise more people would come!"

"We are not black-hearted, but everyone knows that only when the government starts to give relief and the officers, soldiers and servants come out to suppress it, is the time for us to show kindness. I opened the gate here, and tomorrow our Zhuangzi will have everyone wearing mourning! It's a trivial matter to eat up our food, but a person who is hungry and crazy is not a human being, what animal things can't be done after entering Zhuangzi?"

"The big guys are on the wall of Zhuangzi, and they are not allowed to talk to people outside the wall! They are also not allowed to pick up the children passed on the wall! Remember, you have to be determined. Go to the wall~!"

Old Zhao waved his hand, and the men all ran towards the wall sullenly.

Hundreds of people went up to the wall, and when they saw the situation outside, they all felt their scalps go numb.

In the clean fields in winter, human heads are shaking everywhere, and skinny people are all crawling on the ground looking for possible missed rice grains.

A child caught a field mouse in surprise, and just strangled the field mouse to death, the people around were already jumping on it with red eyes.

Following the heart-piercing cry of a woman, after the crowd dispersed, the little boy had already been trampled out of shape.

A peasant man on the courtyard wall watched this tragic scene in shock. He lost his grip on the stick for a moment and fell to the bottom of the village wall which was a foot and a half away.

Below the village wall, in a dry ditch.The falling stick alarmed an old woman who was only skinny.She struggled to get up, hung a swaddling baby in her arms tremblingly on the stick, and stretched it towards the wall of the village.

"Please, please, please, accept my grandson," the old woman's eyes were full of pleading and hopeful light, "It's a boy! It's the only boy in my family! Please, accept him."

In order to keep the swaddling clothes on the stick as high as possible, the old woman put her feet on her feet, grabbed the bottom end of the stick with her last strength, and tried her best to send it up.

The man on the wall couldn't help looking at the swaddling clothes that were handed out three feet away.

The baby's face was facing him, eyes open.

But the blue-gray complexion and dilated pupils made the man's heart twitch. The child was already dead, but the old woman was still trying to find a way out for her grandson.

Although he couldn't bear it, the man still said something softly to the old woman with red eyes.

"Mother, the child has already left. Find a quiet place and send the child for the last time."

The light of hope in the old woman's eyes, or the last sliver of reason to deceive herself, disappeared in an instant.The thin old woman fell straight into the ditch, the stick fell to one side, and the swaddle just fell on her head.Both grandparents and grandchildren left quietly.

In Wuling County Government Office, Sun Guangxian was angrily scolding Zou Tianyang from the air.

"What is he trying to do?!" The enraged Wuling prefect smashed the contents of the hall to the ground, "The remnant people want to show off, Zou is a beast~!"

A literary official came to report in a hurry.

"Tai Zun, all county and township soldiers have been conscripted, and all the four gates of the county city have been locked. Do you want to start suppressing the refugees immediately?"

"No! Wait a minute, is General Luo here?"

"My old Luo is here!" A general in full armor walked directly into Sun Yao's study room. This is Luo Chao, the newly appointed chief general of the Ceshan Army.

He turned a blind eye to the debris all over the floor, because his study was similar to this one.

"General Luo, how is the investigation going?"

"It's not good. The spies reported that more than [-] refugees have flooded into this county. They are all old and young, young and old, and women are all gone!"

Hearing this news, Sun Yao couldn't help shaking.

The young and strong are not there, they can only be recruited by Zou Tianyang, and those women are also organized into battalions needless to say.

"Our mountain army has already set out," Luo Chao said coldly, "Hey, Zou Tianyang wants to get our army to block the mountain pass, and then use the army hidden behind the refugees to surprise me. It's a good idea, I won't go Shankou, only go to Yanmen County to garrison, and block the main road for him to enter the county. The refugees who slip through the net will have to be the prefect!"

"General Luo just go! Sun can take care of the county affairs."

More than 4000 Ceshan troops drove out of the barracks, and not long after they left, Luo Chao called his son Luo Ba first.

"Boy, you take 300 people to Wuliu Temple in Taolin County. There is a small road there, which is blocked by the old man!"

"Okay, Dad!"

(End of this chapter)