Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 70
After eating at Shen Zheng's place, Shen Zheng ordered someone to serve tea.

Li Jing sighed, and said in his heart: In such an environment, he is still thoughtful in everything. It seems that having money is good.

Passing the teacup to Li Jing, Shen Zheng said: "Nephew, the house and the parapet can't be built in a short while, so why don't we let everyone celebrate the New Year here?"

Li Jing shook his head: "Of course not. When the officers and soldiers retire, everyone will return to Hongshanling. No matter what, everyone must live a stable year at home."

After thinking for a while, Shen Zheng then asked: "What if the officers and soldiers come back? Are we going to let everyone flee again?"

Li Jing used the tea cover to gently shake the tea leaves on the cup, took a sip, then put down the cup and said, "Uncle Shen, you know that the officers and soldiers are actually encircling and suppressing the cottage, but it was actually the Xu family who poked it behind. The disaster of the Xu family has been eliminated, without the Xu family providing money, food and grass, I don't think the officers and soldiers will be interested in coming to suppress the bandits again."

"Are you going to take people to Lin County to destroy the Xu family?" Shen Zheng said in surprise.

Li Jing shook his head, smiled and said, "No, I can go by myself. Too many people will not be conducive to action."

"This... There are quite a few people in the Xu family looking after the home, can you go alone?" Shen Zheng asked doubtfully.

"Hehe, don't you trust me?" Li Jing smiled.

Shen Zheng shook his head: "It's not that I can't believe it. I have also seen the skills of my nephew. To be honest, I, Shen Zheng, have traveled all over my life and have never met anyone who is more powerful than my nephew."

Sighing, Shen Zheng continued: "It's just that it's not the same as before. If you wanted to get rid of the Xu family when we first arrived in Jinniuling, I would naturally support it. But now you have to be responsible to all the people in the cottage, and take care of yourself." With the connections of thousands of people in the entire village, how could I let you take the risk alone."

Li Jing pondered for a while and said: "Uncle Shen, the Xu family's affairs are urgent. I have to do it myself. I can't rest assured that others will go. And I plan to leave tonight. After I leave, Uncle Shen will be troubled on the mountain." Too much trouble."

"It doesn't matter. It's just that when you arrive in Lin County, the city gate is already closed. How do you get in? Are you going to keep freezing outside all night?" Shen Zheng said.

"Hehe, the city walls of Lin County can't stop me. I'll pass overnight tonight, and I'll be back before dawn tomorrow. Make everyone ready to return to Hongshanling when the officers and soldiers retreat." Li Jing smiled and said.

Shen Zheng nodded helplessly.

Picking up the teacup, Li Jing pondered for a while and said, "Uncle Shen, there is one more thing I would like to ask you to agree to."

Seeing Li Jing's hesitant speech, Shen Zheng was amazed, and thought, "When did this kid learn to be embarrassed? Except for that time when he borrowed money from me, this kid has never been polite to me. Could it be... is he going to propose marriage to me?"

Thinking that Li Jing might be proposing marriage, Shen Zheng suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

It's not that Shen Zheng doesn't like Li Jing, but Li Jing shouldn't be the one to propose marriage in person.

The ancients paid attention to three media and six engagements when proposing marriage.

To put it bluntly, this is the work of matchmakers.

There is also a situation where the elders of the two parties have a good relationship, and the marriage can be settled directly, and then the two parties exchange birth dates, choose a date for appointment, etc. The procedures are relatively simple.

If the two families are not familiar with each other, a matchmaker will be used to introduce the situation of the two families.

Li Jing's situation is a bit special.

Needless to say, the friendship between Li Jing and Shen Zheng, if Li Jing has elders, mentioning it will be a success.

But Li Jing has no elders, and even if he did, his status is far from Shen Zheng's, such as old man Chen.

In this case, one is for Shen Zheng to find a matchmaker to propose marriage to Li Jing, and the other is for Li Jing to find a matchmaker to propose marriage to Shen Zheng.

A matchmaker came forward to propose marriage, firstly, to respect the Shen family, and secondly, if the Shen family disagreed, since there was a middleman, the friendship between the two parties would not be affected.

But Li Jing must not come forward in person!

Seeing Shen Zhengzheng showing embarrassment, Li Jing felt strange, and thought: "Why are you in trouble before I say anything, did you guess that I want to borrow someone from you? But I borrowed the maid just to spread the word , are you so embarrassed?"

The two speculated on each other's thoughts, and neither of them spoke for a while, only the sound of the two of them drinking tea non-stop remained in the simple wooden house.

Sensing the awkward atmosphere in the room, Shen Zheng felt that this was not a problem, gritted his teeth, and said in his heart: "If this kid really proposes marriage, then I'll point him out. We need to find a matchmaker for this matter."

After thinking about it, Shen Zheng said with a smile: "Why did my nephew only say half of what he said just now? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Hearing Shen Zheng finally spoke, Li Jing hurriedly said: "That's right, there are too few literate people on our mountain, and I need to write down many things in my place, so I want to ask Ms. Shen for help. But it's not convenient for Ms. Shen to come to my place. I wonder if it is possible to arrange for Xiaodie, Miss’ maid, to be with me, so that if I have something to write down, I can ask Xiaodie to send a message to Miss.”

"Ah? You wanted to talk about this just now?" Shen Zheng asked in surprise.

"Yes! What's the matter?" Li Jingqi asked.

"Hahaha, just now I thought you were going to mention it to me... that." Shen Zheng laughed dumbly.

After a pause, Shen Zheng continued: "You want the little female secretary, let Xiaodie pass on the message, right? Well, let me tell the little girl."

"Then I'll trouble Uncle Shen and Miss. It's getting late, so I won't bother you. Uncle Shen should go to bed early." Li Jing stood up and clasped his fists.

Shen Zheng hurriedly stood up and saw him off: "Nephew, be careful all the way."

Li Jing nodded, turned and left.

. .

late at night.

The streets of Lin County.

In the distance came the faint sound of a watchman knocking on a clapper.

Zhang Ao was carrying the jug, shaking his head and staggeringly walking.

When he walked outside a tall mansion, Zhang Aoye squinted his eyes, looked at the lantern hanging at the door, and suddenly let out a loud pooh.

Lifting the jug, Zhang Ao drank a couple of gulps, then staggered forward along the wall.

Suddenly a black shadow flashed across the wall, Zhang Ao was taken aback, and hurriedly rubbed his eyes to look, but saw nothing on the high wall.

Zhang Ao smiled wryly, sighed, and said in his heart: "A good person does not live long, and a disaster lasts for a thousand years. I hope every day and every night that the Xu family will be punished, but they are not good? But I am not as good as every day. A year is not as good as a year. Forget it, let’s count it as a day.”

He raised his head and drank the wine in the flagon. Zhang Ao shook the empty flagon and threw it hard against the wall.

"Crack!" The flagon was smashed to pieces.

But after Zhang Ao was drunk, his body was not stable when he stood up. Now he exerted too much force, he staggered, bumped his head against the high wall, and fell down slowly.

. .

After Li Jing came out of the valley of Wanbai Mountain, he went straight to Hongshanling.

The purpose of Li Jing's trip to Hongshanling was to fetch horses.

When he was in Jinniuling before, Li Jing rented more than [-] horses.

However, the leased horses were useless. During the Battle of Jinniuling, Li Jing led his men to gallop overnight. The thirty horses were basically useless, and those who survived could only be used for farming.

Fortunately, Sun Meng Gaoqi brought officers and soldiers to vote, but when Sun Meng left, he took only twenty horses with him, leaving more than thirty army horses on the mountain.

Of course, these thirty horses are not good horses, but they are far better than the rented horses.

In order to keep the thirty army horses, Li Jing asked someone to open a horse farm at the foot of the mountain and sent someone to raise them.

The location of the horse farm in Hongshanling is very interesting. It is actually in the depression below the mountain road into the mountain.

Unless you deliberately turn in from the foot of the mountain, you will see the situation inside clearly.

If you walk on the mountain road, you can't see the horse farm in the valley.

Putting it in such a place is actually not very safe.

But there is no way, Hongshanling is surrounded by mountains, it is already very good to have such a place.

As for the wasteland around Tiger Ridge to the west of Hongshan Ridge, it was reserved for farming, and it was really inconvenient to go back and forth from there on horseback.

Although this place is not very safe now, it is much more convenient to enter and exit the mountain.

Most of these thirty horses were used by scouts who inquired about news and spies who delivered news. Naturally, the faster the news was passed back and forth, the better.

This time the officers and soldiers took the mountain road, and the scouts were not needed to inquire about the news, so Shen Zheng was going to help the villagers carry food, cotton quilts and other things.

But for emergency, a few horses were left in the stud farm.

Li Jing went to the horse farm and asked the groom for a fast horse, and headed north along the foot of the mountain.

Although walking on the main road is a bit long, it is still much faster than walking with a horse instead. The key is to save a lot of energy.

What Li Jing was going to do this time was the work of jumping over the wall and jumping over the spine. If the physical exertion is too much, this work will not be easy to do.

Li Jing galloped fast and arrived at Lin County in less than three hours.

Finding a hidden place to hide the horse, Li Jing looked at the city wall which was only a foot high, smiled slightly, took out the mask from his arms and put it on.

After calculating the distance to the city wall, Li Jing took a few steps forward, then jumped forward, put his hands on the wall for support, and at the same time exerted strength on his waist, and stood on top of the wall with a backflip.

Immediately, Li Jing quickly slid down against the edge of the city wall, then identified the direction, and walked into the city.

Xu Mansion is very recognizable.

The largest and most luxurious house in Lin County is the Xu family.

After walking through the streets for a few days, you can see a tall house in the distance, and by the light of the lantern, you can see the big word "Xu Mansion" written on the lintel.

Li Jing walked dozens of steps along the courtyard wall, came to a dark corner, looked around, then put his hands on the courtyard wall, and jumped into the wall lightly.

After entering the wall, Li Jing quickly lowered his body and looked at the house carefully.

At this moment, I suddenly heard a bang from outside the wall, as if something had been broken, and then I heard a bang.

Startled, Li Jing rolled over and pressed his body against the courtyard wall.

After a while, no one appeared, and Li Jing slowly emerged.

The Xu family's house was too big, and Li Jing didn't understand the layout of ancient buildings. After searching for a long time, he couldn't figure out where Master Xu should live.

After thinking about it, Li Jing randomly found a room and listened for a while at the window. Hearing the sound of breathing coming from inside, Li Jing took out a dagger and gently pried open the door latch.Gently pushing the door open a gap, Li Jing twisted his body and got in.

(End of this chapter)