There is a white bone spirit in the village

Chapter 71

Four months later, it is the beginning of spring when everything is flourishing.

At this time almost a year ago, Lin Jiao had just arrived here, she was unfamiliar with the place, and she had to rack her brains about the problem of feeding her stomach and covering her head with roof tiles.Now she has become a little woman with a man and a career—it's just that she and her husband and wife have separated overnight, and the foot shop is now in a poor business.

The bad business has nothing to do with Lin Jiao's character, it's really bad luck.Because the current Great Xia Dynasty is experiencing a turmoil.

In October last year, the British King Zhao Qing, who had just arrived in Xidi for a few days, received a secret report. He knew that the deposed prince Zhao Zhen in the southern border had changed. He ordered people to hunt down and prevent Zhao Zhen and his party from entering Beijing at all costs. At the same time, they interrupted their pilgrimage and diverted their route to Linyuanwuzhou in the northwest.It is the land of influence that he has painstakingly managed for many years.When he arrived in Linzhou, he secretly prepared his troops while waiting for the latest news from the spies.

At the beginning of December, news came that the deposed prince Zhao Zhen still escaped many pursuits and was safely sent back to Beijing.The old emperor announced his abdication and was promoted to the Supreme Emperor at the court hall, and the new emperor Zhao Zhen succeeded to the throne. He chose an auspicious day to sacrifice to heaven, and at the same time ordered the envoy to invite the British king back to Beijing to attend the new emperor's sacrificial ceremony.After years of painstaking planning, it was ruined in one accident.The King of England finally couldn't hold back, so he gathered a so-called 20 people that month, issued a statement denouncing the king's injustice, raised the flag to sacrifice to heaven, and marched northward, openly rebelling.

In the military setup of the Great Xia Dynasty, there were left and right battalions of elite forbidden troops in the center, and feudal towns and Jiedushi in the localities.Then, the prestige and loyal generals in the Forbidden Army were sent to the localities as envoys, and the Forbidden Army was under the direct control of the Emperor, and they took turns to garrison the capital.And in the past ten years, the King of England has gradually eroded the imperial power by means of means and the sprinkling of wealth. Not only the local vassals, but even the two generals in charge of the left and right battalions of the Imperial Army secretly joined him at first.The old emperor struggled to get General Zhang Muyuan back into his hands.As soon as the deposed prince was secretly sent to the capital, he was immediately ordered to secretly arrest Youying Li Zhong, and quickly took control of the defense of the capital, so that he was able to succeed to the throne smoothly.However, local feudal towns are not as easy to control as Gyeonggi Defense. In addition, the King of England has been operating for many years, and Linzhou, Yuanzhou and other places have actually fallen into his hands.So when the battle started, the British king's army won successively, and soon occupied all fifteen states in the northwest, heading towards Kyoto.

Linyuan Fifteenth State came again, and after leaving Yanggu Pass, it was Ningzhou where Qinghe was located.The reason why this small county town of Qinghe has become a gathering point where horse teams from all sides come and go is because it is located at a hub.It is usually inconspicuous, but when there is such a war turmoil, the position will become prominent.So at the end of December, Li Guantao immediately received the imperial order from Jingzhong to lay off the original Zhizhou, and ordered him to lead the Zhizhou seal to Xuancheng in Ningzhou to set up defenses and set up control, so that the rebels could not easily invade Yanggu Pass. towards the hinterland.

Li Guantao took the order and hurried to take up the post, and almost a month passed in a flash.Now that the situation has become like this, who still wants to go out for business?Qinghe County, which used to be bustling, is deserted and the atmosphere is tense.Although it is far away from Yanggu Pass, some people who have land to go are preparing to flee. The most common topic among the people every day is whether the rebels will come in.Naturally, Lin Jiao's foot shop had very little business, not even a single customer in the past two days.With no means of income, she had no choice but to close the business and pay severance pay to the three servants, Sister-in-law Wang and Niu Erleng, leaving only Zhaodi to stay.

Once the man left and never came back, the foot shop couldn't do business. Fortunately, there was another good thing that could comfort Lin Jiao, that is, Neng Wu's eyes could finally see things.That day when he came out of the room early in the morning and accurately mentioned the green shirt she was wearing, Lin Jiao's excitement was almost the same as when she took the silver ticket from He Dadao.

Lin Jiao was free, and Mrs. Li was even more free since her husband went to the front line.The two women who are free and worried about their men naturally get together from time to time to pass the time.In the middle of this month, Mrs. Li sent her a letter from Yang Jingxuan via the official post.This was the first time Lin Jiao had received definite news from him since he left for a few months, and she finally let go of her heart that had been hanging around.

The letter was written immediately after he escorted Zhao Zhen into Beijing two months ago.It's just that after a lot of tossing and turning on the road, it was only delivered until now.The letter is not long, but concise.First of all, he only said that he entered Beijing safely, without missing arms or legs, and told Lin Jiao not to worry about him.He also said that he couldn't rush back to meet her immediately, but he would try to find a time to come back.Finally, I added a sentence: I often wake up in the middle of the night thinking about her, and I miss her very much, so that she must also think about him...

Lin Jiao held the letter raft and read it over and over a dozen times, and then she saw something.The words in front seemed to be written in one go, and the handwriting was a bit sloppy, but the handwriting of the last two nasty words was a bit awkward, not only the font was much more correct, even the ink was different from the previous one.It seems that it was written after stopping for a long time.Imagining the way he wrote the letter at that time, my heart was sour and sweet.

It's okay today, Lin Jiao is teaching Neng Wu to write stroke by stroke, when she heard someone banging on the door, she went out and opened it, and saw that Madam Li was accompanied by the girl A Yuan by her side, and she came in the county government's carriage , said to Lin Jiao: "A-Jiao, pack up your things, let's go to Beijing now."

Lin Jiao was taken aback, and after listening to Mrs. Li's explanation, she finally understood.

When Yang Jingxuan left earlier, he entrusted her to Li Guantao and his wife.The situation is tense now, and there will be no accidents for a while, but Qinghe is finally close to Yangguguan.Although Li Guantao is in Xuancheng, he still misses this.After much deliberation, he felt that it would be the best policy to send someone to escort Lin Jiao's wife to Beijing first.Only then did a group of elite soldiers be selected and ordered to rush back to Qinghe and escort them to Beijing first.

Lin Jiao was not very willing in her heart, after all, the capital city was far away and completely unfamiliar.When Yang Jingxuan wrote the letter, although he was still in Beijing, now that so long has passed, he may not still be there.But Li Guantao has arranged it like this, and if something happens to him, he and his wife will not be able to explain to Yang Jingxuan in the future, so they can understand.After thinking about it, he nodded.

Seeing that she was willing, Mrs. Li left the girl A Yuan and asked her to help her pack her things, and then she went back to the Yamen to pack her things.

A Yuan is sixteen or seventeen years old. Although she is a girl, she has graceful eyebrows and eyes. She is very capable in reading and writing, and her temperament is naturally bright and strong.Mrs. Li has no daughter herself, so she dotes on her quite a bit on weekdays.Lin Jiao has the same temper as her, and they get along very well these days.Seeing Mrs. Li left her behind, she thanked her, and A Yuan helped her pack up together.

Yang's shop has long been closed, and the family returned to the countryside a few days ago.So Lin Jiao didn't have anyone to say goodbye to.After being busy for a while, I packed up all the things to take away.Except for some clothes, that is to say, the total earned from opening the shop these days is almost 100 taels of silver.Nengwu and Zhaodi knew they were going to the capital, after all, one was a child, and the other didn't care about anything after eating, and they were both very happy.

Lin Jiao locked the front and back doors, took a look at the property she had earned, and sighed slightly in her heart, and several people boarded the waiting carriage and went to the county government.Stayed overnight, and early the next morning, under the guard of a team of elite soldiers, set foot on the Sangyu official road to the capital.

Although the outside of the pass was already under the control of King Ying, the inside of the pass was still very peaceful, so the start went smoothly, but it was just sitting bumpy in the carriage all day, except for Neng Wu Zhaodi who was also in high spirits, the rest of the people were bored and tired.After traveling for a few days, I went out of the state capital, and at night I went to a big town to lodge.The shopkeeper saw that these female family members were escorted by a group of mighty men, who were quite official, so he naturally took care of them carefully and arranged the best room.

After working hard during the day, Lin Jiao and the others took a rest early in the evening, and set out on the road early the next morning, leaving the town behind. When they gradually reached the dense forest and hills, the guards' mounts gradually began to loosen their legs.The team leader was immediately alert, and hurriedly ordered to change direction and go back to the town first, but it was too late, seeing no less than a hundred men with knives appearing densely on the mountain ridges on both sides, swarming over like a swarm of ants.The leader was frightened and angry, shouted "There are bandits", and hurriedly ordered his men to dismount and protect the carriage.It's just that the number of people here is outnumbered, and the team is not neat, but the opponent obviously came prepared, and was immediately shocked.Lin Jiao and the others felt a violent jolt in the carriage, and they were snatched away by those bandits. With whips, they rushed out of the guards' encirclement and flew away. The rest of the bandits whistled and scattered into the forest. .Most of the horses here are foaming at the mouth and knelt down, how can they catch up?He just watched helplessly as the carriage was taken away by Juechen.

The team leader saw that he had caught the road without noticing for a while, he was shocked and panicked, and immediately got on a horse that could support him and went to Xuanzhou to report the news.

Just now such a shocking scene happened, the carriage was still being driven by the bandits, and when I looked out from the carriage, I saw that the carriage behind A Yuan and Zhaodi was also robbed and was rushing towards the mountain road , without direction.After all, Mrs. Li has seen the big world, after thinking for a while, she comforted Lin Jiao and said, "Don't be afraid. If it's an ordinary bandit, he would never dare to kill us. If we are ordered by others, our lives will be safe for a while. Just take one step at a time."

Lin Jiao admired Mrs. Li's ability to speak like this even though her face was still pale.Busy to comfort Neng Wu who was terrified, the three of them squeezed into one place.Gradually the carriage stopped and was ordered to come down. It turned out that the mountain road was too narrow to pass.

Lin Jiao got out of the carriage, and saw that A Yuan and Zhao Di were escorted over.Looking around, there is a mountain road with winding stone steps above, and a cottage is faintly visible at the end.I know that I should have arrived at the bandit's lair.The other party has a lot of people and is still holding a big knife in his hand, so he naturally obeys first now.After helping Mrs. Li and Neng Wu, they walked up the mountain steps slowly, and were escorted into the stockade and entered a main room.

Although Mrs. Li spoke to comfort Lin Jiao just now, she was still uncertain after all, and she just sat silently on a chair, her face becoming more and more ugly.On the contrary, A Yuan, instead of being fearless, had an angry look on his face. If he hadn't been suppressed by Mrs. Li, he might have rushed out to scold others.

Lin Jiao was guessing the identities of this group of people when she suddenly heard footsteps outside the hall and another man laughed.The voice sounded familiar, and he looked back suddenly. The anxiety just now disappeared, and he was surprised and happy, and shouted: "He Dadao! It's you!" Suddenly he understood why although several of them were captured, they came all the way just now Those people's attitudes were not arrogant, let alone insulting.

A man in black came striding out of the gate, who was it not He Dadao?It's just that he has grown a beard again.Behind him, seven or eight people followed, including Luo Hu and Hei Zi.

Lin Jiao knew that Heizi had been locked up for a while since he was arrested and imprisoned last time.Li Guantao was not sentenced to death according to the criminal law because of his young age and meritorious service, but he was sent to serve in the military.Did not expect to see him here again.

He Dadao laughed loudly and said: "Sister, I didn't expect it to be me, did you? When we parted last time, we said that we will meet again by fate. No, we met again! I just frightened you, so I apologize to you!"

Lin Jiaoxin had completely let go, and responded with a smile.Seeing the sudden reversal of the situation, Mrs. Li and the others felt confused for a moment, Lin Jiao hurriedly said, "Don't worry, Godmother. I knew him before. He won't harm us."

Although Mrs. Li was still full of doubts, she was relieved only to see that the thief seemed to have no malicious intentions.Ah Yuan beside him couldn't bear it anymore.She has been doted on by Mrs. Li all the time, and she came from a wealthy town like Beijing, with a hot temper.Just now, she had no fear and was full of anger, only being suppressed by Mrs. Li.How can I bear it now.Seeing He Dadao's bearded and rough face, he snorted and said: "Where did the earth leopard come out? He is so bold that he even dared to rob my wife's car! He has been nesting in this corner for a long time, and he has no eyesight. The tricks have grown to the back of the head!"

He Dadao was exchanging greetings with Lin Jiao when he suddenly heard someone sarcasm.Looking over, she saw a pretty woman in yellow shirt, standing beside Mrs. Li, looking at herself coldly, with a mocking expression on her face.

(End of this chapter)