Kai Fu Han

Chapter 3 Retreat

Liu Qi is the only son in the family. His father Liu Zhiqing's lineage is not very prosperous. Liu Qi's grandfather Liu Lirang died when Liu Qi was 10 years old. His grandmother even died in childbirth when giving birth to his father. By Liu Qi's time, it was already the third generation of a single family.

Currently, the three most prosperous people in Liujiabao are the clan leader Liu Lihuai, the second master Liu Ligao, and the third master Liu Lisheng. These are the three clan elders who stand at the front to speak out during clan meetings.

After delivering the food, one month passed. In this month, Liu Qi initially completed the production of the crossbow. The finished crossbow was mainly divided into five parts.

Base, trigger system, bow arm, bow string, and arrow assist system.

After nearly a year of exploration, the crossbow made by Liu Qi has two bow arms, which can fire two arrows independently. It can effectively aim and shoot through a half-inch (1.6 cm) wooden board. The killing distance is 50 steps, and it can kill anyone within 70 steps. Target A can still be killed, but because it is a featherless arrow, it has no accuracy beyond 70 steps.

Wooden arrow shafts and carbonized wood shears are always used when making crossbows.The last time he went to deliver food, his father bought 20 iron arrowheads for Liu Qi from the blacksmith. This month, Liu Qi had made all of them into featherless wooden iron arrows.

We also remade three long guns. The gun shafts are all hardwood that has been treated in the past two years. They have good toughness and high hardness. Ash wood is not used. Although ash wood has good elasticity, it is not hard enough and cannot be chopped.

The gun barrel used by Liu Qi and Liu's father was seven feet long, and the one used by his mother was five feet long. Although he also prepared one for his mother, she never used it.

Although he couldn't say why, Liu Qi always had a sense of crisis because of the information conveyed in the dream. He vaguely felt that the current situation would definitely lead to greater war in the future, so Liu Qi subconsciously exercised his body and made weapons. Everything was just To protect myself and my family.

Because Liu Qi is the only son in the family, and there have been constant wars in the north in recent years, Liu's father supports Liu Qi very much, so that Liu Qi can make these things.

After dinner in the afternoon (two meals a day), around Shenshi, Liu's father said to Liu Qi: "I will go to the ancestral hall with me later, and the clan leader will convene a meeting."

"Okay" Liu Qi replied.

Because he was performed a ritual by his master when he was 8 years old, he was so frightened that Liu Qi was introverted. He was usually taciturn and communicated mostly with people in concise and concise expressions.

At Youshi, the sky had just darkened, and several braziers were lit around the ancestral hall. Almost every family in the clan had a person present. Liu Qi mingled with his friends, listening to their chats, and occasionally saying a few words.

Due to Liu Qi's precocious maturity, although Liu Qi is not the king of children in the clan, he still has a certain prestige. Most children like to chat with him and are willing to participate in some of his novel attempts, such as making tung oil soaks before. There are now more than 200 pieces of rattan armor in the village, but there are no specific statistics.

The sound of crutches hitting the ground came from the inner room of the ancestral hall. As the sound approached, three clan elders came out.

"Quiet," the clan leader Liu Lihuai shouted.

Wait until everyone quiets down.

The patriarch continued: "The day before yesterday, I went to the county to visit Lord Liu and received news that the Daming Prefecture in the north was captured by the Jurchen Tatars. Now there are refugees from Daming Prefecture in Jinan Prefecture. It is estimated that the Jurchen Tatars may plunder them this year. This side of Jinan.”

"Buzz", it suddenly became noisy down there,
Everyone started asking questions, and there were so many people talking that it was hard to hear what everyone was saying.

Boom, boom, boom!

"Quiet!" Liu Ligao shouted.

After a long while, everyone calmed down. The news this time was so shocking. Most people here have never experienced war or disaster in their entire lives.

Liu Lihuai continued: "Master Liu is a Jinshi who came from our Liu family fort. For so many years, the fort's funding has not been cut off, so I won't comment on whether the news is true or false. There will most likely be a military disaster this time." , as for how many troops will come here, no one knows now. "

Master Liu's name is Zhijin, and he is not a descendant of the third family above. Like Liu Qi, Liu Zhijin's lineage is also underpopulated. However, Liu Zhijin is more ambitious and has shown excellent learning ability in clan studies. The food provided financial support for his studies, and he passed the Jinshi examination in Anping 17 years, ranking relatively low.Later, considering that he did not have a strong background and his learning ability was mediocre in the Zhao Kingdom, he did not continue to take the exam and became an official.So far, I have moved to three places. Five years ago, I returned to Changqing County to be the boss. This is my second term.

"The most important thing now is how we in Liujiabao will respond to this possible military disaster." Liu Lihuai continued.

None of the tribesmen below have experienced it, so naturally no one has any ideas.

After a while, when no one spoke, Liu Lihuai continued:
"Our clan elders discussed it before and there are two ways to deal with it. We discussed it together and finally decided with a show of hands. The minority obeys the majority."

"The first is to take refuge in the mountains. We have always built a hunting settlement in the mountains. After so many years of expansion, it can only accommodate 300 people. The best way to do this is to avoid the disaster of war before coming out, and bury the food in advance to avoid losses. It won’t be very big. The disadvantage is that if everyone goes into the mountains, the settlements in the mountains will need to be expanded, which will cost money and resources, and the crops will be depleted.”

"This is definitely not possible. We have paid a lot of grain this summer and there is not enough food to eat. If the crops are famine again, people will starve to death this winter." A tribesman replied.

"Yes, yes" someone else responded.

"Then the second way to deal with it is to build a stronghold to protect yourself. Strengthen the fort walls, dredge and expand the canals around the fort, and strengthen military preparations and train the militia. The flaw of this method is that if the military disaster is serious, the fort will be destroyed. If we break through, the Liu Family Fort will be finished." Liu Lihuai said again.

"Can you prepare some money and food, and then offer them as offerings to see if you can get the Jurchens to let Liujiabao go?" The man who spoke looked thin. Liu Qi knew him. He was a lazy man in the village who had not yet married in his 30s. His name was Liu Zhiyi is nothing like his name.

"Liu Zhubo told me that the destroyed fortress in the north was basically robbed, and those who resisted fiercely would be massacred. This also led to a large number of refugees going south. I don't think they will be treated specially when they come to Liujiabao," Liu Lihuai replied road.

"The patriarch is right. The Jurchen Tatars chose to go south to plunder after the summer harvest. They took into account that after the summer harvest, every family has food in storage and the looting profits are high. They will definitely not let us go easily." Liu Lisheng also said.

"Then what should we do? Hiding means death, and defending means death." Someone asked.

……

The ancestral hall became quiet for a while.

Liu Qi was also confused. He didn't expect that the content of this clan meeting would be an unanswerable question.

"If that doesn't work, you should hide out and wait until the military disaster is over before we can think of a solution. It's only a matter of time." A tribesman suggested.

"That's easy to say. When there is no food, will you starve to death, or will I starve to death?" Someone immediately objected.

"I'm just proposing, you..." Before he could finish, he was interrupted again.

"I think it's better to hold on. Our Liujia Fort is so close to Mount Tai. If we can't hold on, it's not too late to run away. When the time comes, we can crawl into the mountain..."

"Nonsense, the Jurchen Tatars are all good at fishing and hunting, and there are many horses. How can two legs run faster than four legs?" "That's right, that's right."

"If you can't hold on and run away, it's better to hide out as soon as possible."

"Yes, yes"

……

The yes-men who follow the crowd still make up the majority, and there are not many constructive opinions. Everyone is frightened.

The three clan elders sat at the top and watched the debate below. There must be no two solutions, and they wanted to find a way out through everyone's brainstorming.

"Then why not do both methods at the same time?"

When the clan leader heard Liu Qi's words, he hit his cane and made a crisp "pop" sound. Everyone looked over.

"Stop for a moment and listen to what Xinqi has to say. Xinqi, please tell me how to do both methods at the same time."

Everyone in the tribe knows that Liu Qi has been smart since he was a child. Although he is not very knowledgeable, he has a good brain and many ideas.Basically everyone in the clan has benefited.When Liu Qi was 14 years old, based on the existing curved shaft plow, he shortened and bent the plow shaft, and reduced the number of components such as the shaft and the pressing hoe, making the plow body structure lighter, more flexible to use, and more efficient in farming.

At the age of 15, he improved the existing hydraulic wheelbarrow, adding one set of gears to three sets, and made a water-rotating wheelbarrow, so that the waterwheel can not only lift water, but also drive water mills, grind flour, and grind tofu.

A 16-year-old child from the organized clan made rattan armor. Although it has not been used yet, the imminent war disaster immediately revealed the value of the rattan armor that was previously made with tung oil.

"Hide in the mountains. The hunting strongholds in the mountains are not enough to live in. If we defend, it is possible that the whole clan...well..." Liu Qi didn't know how to word this.

"Death Jue" Liu Ligao added, "Go on, everyone knows this."

"Yes" Liu Qi paused.

"Then what if some people hide out and some stay behind?"

"How do you identify this person?" Liu Lisheng asked.

"If we want to guard, we need strong men. Women, children and the elderly are of little use and can only do some logistical work at most, so the young men stay to guard." Liu Qi continued: "The remaining women, children and the elderly will go into the mountains to hide. In this way, the fort will be manned. "Shou, there are also laborers cleaning up the land outside. And..."

Liu Qi paused again for a short while, and when he saw everyone looking at him, he mustered up the courage to continue: "And even if the young and old are unlucky, the women and children can still be regarded as leaving seedlings for the Liu family."

Hearing this, the ancestral hall fell silent.

"What do you think of this method?" Liu Ligao asked those present.

"It's a helpless move," said Mr. Zhou.

Mr. Zhou is a teacher from Liujiapu private school. He came to Liujiapu in the 17th year of Anping and is a classmate of Liu Zhubo. He has been settling in Liujiapu, teaching students and studying at the same time. However, he has not been admitted to the Jinshi exam for so many years. Have basically given up.

"Yes, leave some seedlings. If you have seedlings, don't worry about them growing."

"Yes, Liujiabao cannot cut off its roots."

At this time, the clan leader stood up.

"Okay, just follow what Xinqi said, but I think it's a little inappropriate. Women and children can go into the mountains to hide, but the elderly can't. If they stay behind to do logistics for the young and strong, it's a waste of food to go into the mountains."

"How is this possible? That's not what Xin Qi meant..." Liu's father stood up immediately and said, probably because he was afraid that Liu Qi would be known as unfilial by making such a decision.

The patriarch raised a hand to interrupt Father Liu's words.

"This is my intention, not Xinqi's."

"Hey", Father Liu understands the patriarch's character, and it is usually difficult to change what he decides.

"Okay, this is the method. Women under the age of 40 and children under the age of 20 go into the mountains to hide, and the others stay in the fort. Now raise your hands if you agree."

After the patriarch finished speaking, he raised his hand first.

The two clan elders looked at each other and raised their hands.

The clansmen below also raised their hands one after another.

When more than half of the people raised their hands, the patriarch stood up and used his crutch.

"Snapped"

"More than half of the people agree, this discussion has been decided. I will make detailed arrangements according to the decision later. It's getting late, everyone should go back and rest."

It is estimated that not many people will be able to sleep tonight, Liu Qi thought as he watched the clan members disperse one after another.

"Xinqi, please stay for a while."

"Alas," Liu Qi responded, and then followed the three clan elders into the back room.

　I don't know if anyone has read it. If anyone has read it, please leave a mark in the chapter and give the author some encouragement.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)