Start: Datang Wanli a lonely city

Chapter 455 The Gears of Destiny

"Why is this thief's mother's belly so unbelievable? I only drank half a bowl of vegetable porridge in the morning, so why is this belly hungry again before noon~"

He lowered his head and looked at his belly that just "cuckoo~" several times.

Hou San cursed in a tone of hatred for iron and steel.

Then, after skillfully loosening a belt around his waist, he tightened his belly a little more with both hands.

Relying on such a simple and rude method, I feel less hungry for the time being.

In the following time, he naturally reached out to a basket on the ground, intending to carry the basket home.

After seeing the big basket full of wild vegetables in the basket, Hou San suddenly showed a rather complicated expression on his face.

On the one hand, I am happy, because today is the fifth day after Her Majesty Empress Maude ascended the throne.

At this time today, like [-]% of the people in Kaifeng, the last grain of Hou San's family has been eaten up.

Fortunately, God doesn't take pity on Kaifeng people, but Kaifeng people take pity on their own people.

The reason for saying this is probably because too many people died in Kaifeng City during the ravages of the golden soldiers; too much human blood was poured on the land, and too many corpses were not buried in the wilderness outside the city. middle.

In such a way, the land they live in is nourished.

In short, today is such a short period of spring, and there are more wild vegetables outside the city than in previous years.

Dozens of wild vegetables such as shepherd's purse, noodle dish, Ququ vegetable, and white pole are everywhere.

Today he left the city early in the morning, and it took him only an hour to dig such a big basket.

After returning home, boil the water first to get rid of the bitterness in the wild vegetables, and after cooking, it will always be able to deal with filling the stomach, so that people will not starve to death.

On the other hand, it was Hou San who was worried.

You must know that no matter how you say wild vegetables, you can’t eat them directly as a meal. If you eat less, you won’t feel hungry at all; but if you eat a little more, it’s like a fire is burning in your stomach, which makes people worry. It hurts badly to scratch the liver.

More importantly, Hou San felt terribly guilty when he thought of his little lady.

The little lady who was saved by him was completely unmoved by the recent post in the palace telling them to just go back with peace of mind and let the past go.

On the night of Empress Maode's ascension to the throne, the two of them faced the direction of the palace and worshiped the tablets of their parents at home.

It can be considered that Hou San, an old bachelor, finally married a daughter-in-law.

It's a pity, don't say that Hou San can give a new daughter-in-law who is like a sweetheart to live a good life with gold, silver, clothes and food, and a carefree life. This is not even enough to eat a full meal.

Even though Xiaoniang ate vegetable porridge with him every time, she never said a single bad word.

But looking at his daughter-in-law, her face was originally the size of a palm, but she has lost a lot of weight in just a few days, and she looks disheveled.

As an old man, Hou San felt that he was really a waste, and he was very sympathetic.

The question is, what can he do?
Now in the huge city of Kaifeng, all industries are withered badly, even with all the effort I can afford, I can't find any work.

Not to mention that as usual, after a day's work, they can bring back enough rice and noodles to last for several days.

"Go back and order porridge, and then go to the pier to take a good look. You must bring back some food, and let my little lady add a handful of millet to the porridge tonight."

With such a thought in mind, Hou San walked into the opened gate of Kaifeng City...

However, when Hou Sancai walked to the Tsingyi Alley where his home was located, a sentence suddenly came from his ear:
"Third brother, what time is it now? You are still strolling here slowly. You don't want your little lady to have a full meal?"

As soon as he heard the word 'satisfaction', Hou San immediately regained his spirits.

After looking back, he found a man with a short stature, greeting him from behind, isn't it his sworn brother Liu Dalang?
Talk!Although Hou San has no brothers in his family, he has two sworn brothers.

Among them, this short-bodied traveler who usually carries a load of needles, needles, and brains is the eldest brother of the three.

In addition, there is another Xie Ergou who looks like he can go down with eight sticks and can't make a loud fart. He was originally a blacksmith in a blacksmith shop, and he is the second brother.

In this way, Hou San is naturally the third younger brother.

Although the three people's livelihoods are far from each other, but because they grew up together in this Tsing Yi Lane since they were young, they also became sworn brothers by chance, and they take care of each other in daily life.

Of course, the above is not important to Hou San.

The important thing is, where can I find some rice noodles now, so that my little mother can have a full meal.

Immediately, he asked, "Brother, where can I get rice noodles?"

After Liu Dalang heard the words, he grabbed Hou San's arm and walked up, saying: "Don't worry, call your second brother and talk about it, and then I will explain it to you along the way~"

In the following time, they called the blacksmith Xie Ergou who was not living at home now, and the three of them hurriedly walked together.

It was also along the way that Hou Sancai figured out the cause of the incident.

It turned out that Liu Dalang was working in the newly established street office. I heard that Grandpa Hu, who is now Mr. Hu, ordered to recruit a group of people in Kaifeng City.

The old Matou of the sub-district office didn't know exactly what it was for, and said that it would be announced later by a public official.

The important thing is that the only place where there is some food is in the hands of Empress Maude's new court; no matter what the court recruits people to do, they can't let people do it for nothing, right, it must be given some money and food, right?

Thinking of the people in the city nowadays, almost all of them are at home.

Liu Dalang didn't even wait for the gentleman to publish the list in the afternoon, he hurriedly called his two sworn brothers, and rushed towards the Kaifeng mansion's Yamen, just like that.

It's just that the three of them, who were almost out of breath after running wildly all the way on empty stomachs, didn't know at all.

The three of them will have completely different fates and life trajectories in the future, all because of such a move, a huge change has taken place.

To use a modern-day, already somewhat old-fashioned internet adjective:
The gears of fate began to turn quietly at this moment...

******
After arriving at the gate of Kaifeng Mansion Yamen, Hou San found that there were already hundreds of men here, discussing endlessly around the gate.

In addition, more people, like the three brothers, ran over from a distance.

After the three squeezed past, it was only from the discussions of the surrounding people that they heard clearly what was going on:

It turned out that Grandpa Hu wanted to form a new army. After a good drill, he would go straight to Huanglong in the future to avenge the humiliation he suffered for the shame of Jingkang.

In addition, the new army naturally has a new atmosphere. The Ministry of Industry plans to recruit a group of craftsmen to prepare equipment, and it is said that the salary is generous.

The Ministry of Households is preparing to recruit some civilians to mine coal, iron and other ores; recruit some coachmen and boatmen to transport coal and iron ore back.

Recruit a group of farmers to cultivate the vacated fields in the surrounding areas of Kaifeng City.

The Ministry of Rites is planning to recruit some scholars. It is said that they plan to open multiple primary schools in the city, and all school-age children can go to school for free.

It can also be regarded as achieving "teaching without discrimination", an act of an ancient saint.

And the Ministry of Punishment, prepare to...

No matter what kind of job you apply for, you can get two catties of rice noodles to settle down, and then there will be rice noodles distributed one after another. In short, people will not starve to death.

Anyway, upon hearing this, Hou San and the other three brothers were overjoyed.

Then they became a little worried, precisely because of their elder brother Liu Dalang.

The second brother, Xie Ergou, has a good blacksmithing skill, so he naturally went to the Ministry of Industry to receive a generous salary.

It would be a pity that the third younger brother Hou San had such strength in his arms that he didn't go to the army to fight hard and end up with a wife and son.

Then the question arises, what about Liu Dalang, the eldest brother with five short statures?
Whether it's farming or being a civilian husband, I'm afraid he will suffer a lot with his body.

What they didn't know was that Yu Hanfeng, who happened to be passing by at this moment, the current intelligence leader of the Song court, saw Liu Dalang's classic figure.

Immediately, his eyes lit up, as if he had found a piece of jade in the rough...

(End of this chapter)