Late Tang

Xuzhou, the headquarters of Henan Province's Probation Army Jiedushi, is Xiaoxian County along the Bian River for eighty miles to the northwest.There is a landlord in Xiao County, Liu Chong, who used to be a recorder in Xuzhou, but now he is at home and is at ease serving his mother in the countryside of Xiao County. There are some servants and tenants in the family, and they are very particular about people on weekdays, so they are quite well-known in Xiao County. There is no official status, but the Liu family is also living in good health.

The Liu Mansion owns a small manor with a thousand acres of fertile land and employs many tenant farmers.There are also pigs and cows in the family for people to feed.The whole world gathers together, but the Liu family enjoys peace alone.

As the sun slanted westward, the ordinary life of the Liu family came to an end.The long-term workers in the fields finished their work according to the setting sun with their hoes on their shoulders, and those who herded cattle and pigs also finished their work.Due to the continuous drought and locust plague, even the landlord's family did not have much food left over this year.Although Xiao County is within the territory of Xuzhou and is close to the Huaihe River, because of the Xuzhou Rebellion by Pang Xun and the Probation Army, one of the most arrogant troops in the late Tang Dynasty, there were many rebellions in recent years. Although the Liu family was not directly poisoned, However, the amount of money and food handed in every year has also doubled.

The servants of the Liu family were very hungry at this time after a hard day. They only ate two bowls of porridge in the morning.Two bowls of porridge are really too much for these young and healthy people.After finally staying up late at night, my belly was already a hungry chest sticking to my back.

The dinner was better than the morning. Besides the two bowls of porridge, the head of the house, Liu Chong, specially ordered the kitchen to give each person a few more sticks of dried radish.

The cook Wang is a widow over forty years old. Her original family was in Dangshan, Songzhou, northwest of Xuzhou. Her husband was from a farming and studying family in his early years.The whole family supported him with their belts. After Wang married into the Zhu family, because her husband had been studying for many years, he couldn't lift his shoulders or hands, so the burden of life fell on her shoulders.Both her father-in-law and her mother-in-law died shortly after her marriage, and her husband took the exam for several years, but failed to pass the exam.The little land in the family was sold out for the husband to study, buy pens, ink and paper, and travel expenses for the exam.

After the eldest son was born, the husband also gave up his desire to be a scholar in the imperial examination, and instead became a private school teacher in a private school in the village, specializing in teaching "Book of Changes", "Shangshu", "Book of Songs", "Book of Rites", "Spring and Autumn" five Zhu Wujing became his name gradually.

Seeing that life is gradually getting better, it is unexpected that there will be misfortunes and blessings in the future. A few years after the birth of the third son, Zhu Wujing left his wife and the three underage sons and one daughter, and went west.Before his death, facing his weeping wife and children, he said that after his death, he would go to Xiaoxian County, Xuzhou to find Liu Chong.It is said that when he went to Chang'an for the imperial examination, he once rescued Liu Chong who was seriously ill.

The Wang family had to come to Xiao County with their three sons and one daughter. Liu Chong heard that it was the old man's wife Xiaolai who voted, so he arranged for them to stay at home.But even though he was an old friend back then, Liu Chong was not from the family of the rich.Therefore, in the end, Mrs. Wang cooks under Liu's kitchen, and Mrs. Wang's daughter helps cook under the kitchen, taking care of Mrs. Liu by the way.As for the three brothers of the Zhu family, the eldest was older, so he went to work in the fields.The second child is responsible for herding the cows, and the third child is responsible for feeding the pigs.

In this way, it can be regarded as repaying the kindness of the year and taking in Zhu Wujing's widow and orphan.

The servants took turns to take the dinner from Mrs. Wang, and when it was the turn of the three brothers of the Zhu family, Mrs. Wang quietly handed a lotus leaf bag to the youngest son Ah San, and said softly: "Mother specially left it for you, the old lady has nothing today. Appetite, the food is left over, the old lady gave the food to your sister, your sister only ate a little, and said to leave it to your brother three."

Zhu Asan carefully hid the leftovers wrapped in lotus leaves into her bosom, with a smile on her face.

The three brothers lived in the lower room on the left side of Liu's house, next to the firewood house, and the three brothers lived in the same room.After eating the porridge and radish sticks in a few mouthfuls in the courtyard, the three brothers returned to the room impatiently.

Zhu Ahsan took out the lotus leaf bag from his pocket and opened it. Inside were three white rice balls, three pieces of dried salted fish, and some chicken nuggets.The three brothers couldn't help drooling when they saw such a rich leftovers.At the moment, each person has one portion, and they will be divided up immediately, and they are eaten like a storm.

After eating, the three of them lay on the bunk, still having endless aftertaste.In the past few years, because Mrs. Wang was in the kitchen, they often had the opportunity to eat some leftovers, but it was really rare to have fish and meat like today.

The boss, Zhu Quanyu, rubbed his stomach, closed his eyes and recalled the taste: "If I can eat this once a month, I will be satisfied."

The second child Zhu Cun said: "It would be even better if I could eat it every day."

After the two brothers finished speaking, they were all waiting for Zhu Ahsan's words. The strange thing was that in the past, every time they finished eating leftovers, their brothers would sigh like this.Today the third child was lying there without saying a word.

"Ah San, why don't you speak?" Among the three brothers, the eldest was the oldest and had the most honest temper.

Zhu Ahsan sat up suddenly, and said loudly, "I don't want to eat these leftovers anymore."

Looking at Zhu Ah San who suddenly changed into a different person, the eldest and second child looked at the 22-year-old third child in amazement.Old Daoist: "Ah San, it's not the turn of others to eat this leftovers. If it weren't for our mother in the kitchen, we wouldn't have such a good opportunity."

"That's right, if Mr. Liu didn't owe our father a favor back then, we wouldn't even be able to eat porridge, let alone the leftovers with fish and meat."

This time, Zhu Ahsan said a little angrily: "If you want to eat it, I don't want to eat it in the future."

"why?"

"Fish is so delicious, every time I eat it, I feel sad. You said that our brother is already in his 20s, and the elder brother is almost 30, but up to now, the three of us are still single. We have hands We have feet, and we are all strong and strong, but we can't even get enough to eat. I think the three brothers of us have read the Five Classics with our father and learned some words when we were young." Zhu Wen sat there, and there was no one in the room. It was pitch black when the lamp was lit, but the eyes were bright and bright.

"Third brother, what are you talking about?" Boss Zhu sighed slightly, "The world is different, there are famines everywhere now, it's good that we can still have something to eat."

Zhu Ahsan didn't speak anymore, but there was always a puff of energy in his chest.He couldn't tell where this anger came from, but he was really tired of herding and feeding pigs all day long.Think about Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, what a hero he was, from a small pavilion leader to the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty.

"Go to sleep, I've been tired all day, and I have to get up early tomorrow." The boss said, and then undressed and went to sleep.The second child, Zhu Cun, also fell asleep, and Zhu Asan lay on the bed, but couldn't fall asleep, tossing and turning.

He kept turning around, which made the boss Zhu and the second brother unable to sleep. The boss said a little unhappy: "Don't think about what you have and what you don't have, go to bed early."

Unexpectedly, Zhu Ah San not only did not sleep, but instead sat up from the bed all at once.

"What's the matter with you, third child?"

"Shh! Big Brother and Second Brother, listen carefully, there seems to be movement outside!"

Boss Zhu and Second Zhu also listened quickly, and sure enough they heard movement on the west courtyard wall behind the firewood house, which sounded like footsteps.

Although Liu Chong used to be an official, now he is a landlord and member, but the Liu family does not have a special guard, only an old servant who keeps watch at night.In the middle of the night, there was a sudden sound of climbing over the wall. Needless to say, it must be a thief.

"Brother, I heard that a thief named Zhang Zhan appeared in Xiao County recently, and he took a dozen of his men to rob big households. Could it be that Zhang Zhan is here?" Zhu Asan said softly, his voice full of tension and excitement. .

When the boss heard it, he was panicked, "Then what should I do?"

"Big Brother, Second Brother, we drove them away for fucking, Mr. Liu must thank us well, maybe he will treat us to dinner!" Zhu Ahsan said full of yearning, even though he said just now that he didn't want to eat anymore There are leftovers, but if it is to eat noodles, he is looking forward to it.

When Zhu Xiao heard about the banquet, his heart immediately became excited.At the moment, he didn't care about the danger of the thief, so he sat up.The boss panicked: "Second and third, you are going to die, there are many thieves, and you dare to stand out. If something happens, there will be troubles, how will you let your mother and younger sister live?"

At this time, Zhu Wen was determined. Relying on his bravery, he ignored his elder brother's objections and got out of bed quietly. He took two sticks, one with his second elder brother. "Brother, you just stay in the house and don't come out. Second brother and I just go out and have a look."

Because Zhu Ahsan and Zhu Aher's work is different from the boss's usual work, the two brothers have a bit of free time, one is herding cattle and the other is feeding pigs.At this time, he is young and energetic, and he is not afraid of a few thieves at all.

The two brothers took out the hut and walked around to a corner of the firewood hut.By the moonlight, I happened to see a dozen or so people had climbed over the wall and were coming towards the firewood house.These people were all dressed in black, they were tall and short, and they didn't hold any swords or guns in their hands, which made the three brothers Zhua more courageous.

The two brothers looked at each other, and waited for the thief to come this way, and directly hit the bearded man who was walking in the front with a stick on the head.That person looks like a leader, maybe Zhang Zhan, the leader of the bandit.

The bearded man was unprepared and caught off guard. Hearing the sound of the wind, although he tried his best to dodge, he was hit on the head by Zhu A San and then by Zhu Lao Er on the shoulder. He was beaten to death on the spot. land.

The other thieves came back to their senses at this time, and rushed up one after another, and several of them drew their daggers.However, the three Zhu'a brothers were not afraid at all, they let out a loud roar, each with a stick, they rushed forward like a tiger into a flock of sheep.Swipe left and chop right, very brave.

Without a moment's effort, all the thieves were knocked down to the ground.The three brothers Zhua were also beaten a few times, but the opponent was not prepared enough, either with bare hands or with a dagger, they were not opponents of their long sticks at all, but just received a few punches and kicks. There were a few black shoe prints.

At this time, the bearded man had already woken up, Zhu Asan asked, and it was indeed Zhang Zhan.Zhu Asan wanted to tie him up, but Zhang Zhan knelt on the ground and kowtowed in spite of the blood on his head.He said that he would never dare to commit another crime again, and handed over some of the property they had just stolen in the next village, asking them to let them go.

A fire was shining in the distance, and Boss Zhu rushed over with a look of panic and a dozen servants of the Liu family carrying sticks, hoes, dung forks.

"Third, San, are you all right?"

"Brother, we are fine, we have caught the thief." Zhu Asan excitedly shouted to the boss.When the servants and long-term workers heard that they were all right, they hurriedly quickened their pace and ran over boldly.

When they saw the three brothers Zhua standing there holding a stick, while a dozen thieves were lying all around, still humming, and a bearded man was kneeling in front of them with his face covered in blood. , all surprised from ear to ear.

Later, under the leadership of several long-term workers, Liu Chong came hurriedly with some disheveled clothes.

Zhu Asan carried Liu Zhan to Liu Chong with a smile on his face, and said with a smile, "Your official, this is Liu Zhan, the leader of the thief who has frequently stolen property from landlords and big households in Xiao County recently. They first robbed the neighbor next door tonight." The family of Zhang Dahu in the village came to rob our Liu’s house again. It happened that the three of us brothers were not asleep and heard the movement. We brothers discussed it and asked my brother to report the news. My second brother and I came out. We met this group The thieves jumped into the wall, and our two brothers beat the thieves to the ground. Just now, the thief kowtowed and knelt down to us, saying that he wanted our brothers to let him go. Our brothers Don’t dare to make the decision, it’s all up to the officials to speak.”

At this time, Liu Chong's shock gradually settled down. After hearing what had happened, he went up to ask Liu Zhan a few more words. , could not help being extremely shocked.He also secretly rejoiced that their brothers found out tonight, otherwise, the Liu family would have suffered a great loss.

But right now there are bandits everywhere, and it is said that Liu has dozens of subordinates.Although more than a dozen were caught at the moment, Liu Chong still didn't dare to send him off after thinking about it.Finally, after making Liu Zhan swear that he would never come to disturb and retaliate again, he released them.

Liu Zhan and others handed over all the property they had stolen before, kowtowed and smacked their chests and vowed never to come again before they fled in a panic.

Liu Chong immediately sent someone to invite Zhang Dahu from the next door and returned their stolen property to them.Zhang Dahu was very grateful when he heard that it was the Zhu Asan brothers who beat off the thieves and helped them get back their belongings.

The next day, Zhang Dahu set up a table with good noodles at home, and invited the three Zhu Asan brothers to the banquet.

When sitting on the table in the main hall of Zhang Dahu, eating the twelve bowls of chicken, duck and fish, the three brothers seemed to be in a dream.

They ate until their stomachs rounded, but none of the three brothers could finish the table.Finally, when leaving, the boss asked Zhang Dahu to pack up all the leftovers and take away.

After this incident, the three Zhu Asan brothers suddenly rose in image in several nearby villages, and they seemed to have become the umbrella of the whole village under the chaotic situation.

Liu Chong also no longer asked the three brothers to plant land, graze cattle and feed pigs, but asked someone to buy a few knives, guns, bows and arrows from Xuzhou's old colleagues, and asked the three brothers to wield knives, guns and arrows to serve as the Liu family's guards. .

(To be continued)