Chapter 54

Because of this conscription, the market in Lin'an, which was already sluggish, was no longer as lively as before.

The New Year had passed, and apart from weddings and funerals, almost no one would kill pigs at home, so Fan Changyu suddenly had some free time.

The meat market business was not good either, and many butcher shops were temporarily closed. Since Qingping County was not far from Lucheng, many people were panicking, and some well-informed wealthy businessmen had even sold their businesses and fled south.

Fan Changyu has been taking care of the two children at home these past two days. Although she has not read much, she has learned all the "Three Character Classic" and "Thousand Character Classic". She wanted to teach Changning and Yu Baoer to recognize words.

I didn't expect that Yu Baoer, at such a young age, had already learned quite a few characters. When she held the charcoal pencil and wrote on the ground, the characters she wrote looked quite realistic.

Chang Ning is better than Yu Baoer in other matters. When Chang Ning takes Yu Baoer out to play, Yu Baoer always listens to her.

Changning suddenly realized that this seemingly dull guy was better at reading and writing than herself. She was very unconvinced and stopped playing. She kept pestering Fan Changyu to teach her how to read.

Yu Baoer was very enthusiastic: "If you want to learn, I can teach you."

Chang Ning grabbed Fan Changyu's clothes and snorted, "I won't learn from you. I have my elder sister to teach me. When my elder sister teaches me all the characters she knows, and my brother-in-law teaches me, I will be better at reading than you!"

Fan Changyu was flipping through the "Three Character Classic" to teach Chang Ning how to recognize today's words when he suddenly heard her mention Yan Zheng and was distracted for a moment.

So many days have passed, and I don't know whether these recruited soldiers have arrived in Lucheng. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were recruited this time, and Carpenter Zhao was sent to be a veterinarian and a carpenter. If Yan Zheng was assigned to the infantry battalion, then Carpenter Zhao would have very little chance of meeting him.

If he was selected into the cavalry camp, Carpenter Zhao would have a better chance of finding out about him.

Chang Ning noticed that Fan Changyu had been holding the book for a long time without saying anything, so he gently shook her sleeve and said, "Sister, what's wrong with you?"

Fan Changyu collected his thoughts and said, "Nothing much. Come, let's learn these five words today..."

Pens, ink, paper and inkstones were expensive, but Fan Changyu did not give them to the two children. He only used a charcoal stick to let them write on a clean stone slab.

While Changning was practicing calligraphy, Fan Changyu slowly opened the Four Books with detailed annotations by Yan Zheng. She started with "The Analects of Confucius". Since Yan Zheng had taught her two chapters before and had detailed annotations throughout the book, she did not find it too difficult to read.

At noon, someone knocked on the gate of Fan's courtyard.

Fan Changyu went to open the door and saw that the person coming was Yu Qianqian. He hurriedly and enthusiastically wanted to welcome her into the house.

Yu Qianqian was wearing a dark cloak. Although she had a smile on her face, she looked a little haggard. She said, "Sister Changyu, I am in a hurry today. I will not go in. I am here to take Baoer away."

When Yu Baoer heard Yu Qianqian's voice, she ran out of the yard, hugged Yu Qianqian's legs, looked up and happily called "Mom".

Yu Qianqian touched the child and said to Fan Changyu, "During these days when Bao'er was here, it really troubled Sister Changyu."

Fan Changyu hurriedly said it was nothing.

Yu Qianqian didn't see Xie Zheng, so she asked, "Did your husband also go to Lucheng for the conscription two days ago?"

Fan Changyu agreed and invited Yu Qianqian to come into the house and sit down again, but Yu Qianqian still declined.

She looked at Fan Changyu and said after a moment's hesitation, "Sister Changyu, to be honest with you, all the wealthy merchants in Qingping County have been using their connections to transfer their wealth to the south. I have also sold the two Yixianglou buildings at a discount. I have already arranged the connections at the city gate. I will leave the city with my family and head to Jiangnan at the hour of You. We don't know if Lucheng can be defended yet. Sister Changyu, come with me to Jiangnan. If you are worried about your husband, it won't be too late to return to Qingping County after the war is over."

Fan Changyu finally understood why Yu Qianqian seemed so hurried on this trip. She hesitated for a moment and declined politely, "Thank you for your kindness, shopkeeper, but I still have many things to arrange at home. If I leave without hesitation, and the government issues another tax or grain levy, the nine families in this alley who are implicated with me will suffer."

The ten neighboring families could not relocate at will. Even if they wanted to relocate, they had to go to the government to handle the relocation documents, and the process was very complicated.

There had been several murders in her family before, and she was planning to take Changning to hide somewhere else, but she also had to deal with the family property and handle paperwork. This took several days, and even the paperwork was not completed until the government closed the case. Later, she decided not to live in hiding anymore, so the matter was put on hold for the time being.

Yu Qianqian certainly knew how difficult it was for ordinary people to handle these documents at this critical moment when the city lockdown order had not been lifted. Merchants like them had given many benefits to the officials, and only then were they able to approve the documents under the pretext of the caravan going out to purchase goods.

She shook Fan Changyu's hand vigorously and said, "I am just a businessman. I cannot take anyone else with me. But if you are willing to go with me, come to the city gate at twilight hour today."

Fan Changyu nodded and said, "I understand the storekeeper's intention."

But she really couldn't leave right now. Not to mention the cumbersome relocation process, Carpenter Zhao had already been conscripted into the army, leaving only Aunt Zhao, and she couldn't abandon her.

Aunt Zhao is her and Changning's half-grandmother.

Seeing that she couldn't persuade Fan Changyu, Yu Qianqian stopped trying to persuade him. She lowered her head and said to Yu Baoer, "Baoer, say goodbye to Aunt Changyu and Sister Changning."

Yu Baoer knew that Yu Qianqian came to pick him up, but he didn't expect that they were leaving Qingping County directly. He turned to look at Fan Changyu: "Goodbye, Aunt Changyu."

He then looked at Chang Ning, who was holding onto the skirt of Fan Chang's jade skirt, and said, "I will teach you how to read in the future."

Chang Ning was very unconvinced: "I must know more words than you!"

The two children were busy bickering with each other. Fan Changyu and Yu Qianqian couldn't help laughing when they saw them, and the sadness of parting was somewhat alleviated.

Fan Changyu held Changning's hand and walked Yu Qianqian and her son to the carriage outside the alley.

Yu Baoer was about to get on the bus, but she ran back, took off the jade pendant hanging around her neck and gave it to Chang Ning: "This is for you."

Fan Changyu quickly said no, and said to Yu Qianqian: "This is too expensive."

Yu Qianqian smiled gently and said, "Let Ning Niang keep it. This child is too lonely. Every time he meets a playmate, he is reluctant to part with them and will give them his favorite things. This is at least a token of his love."

Changning took the jade pendant only after seeing Fan Changyu nod.

She tugged at the corner of her clothes, looked at Yu Baoer and said, "But I don't have anything to give you."

Yu Baoer pointed to a straw katydid hanging on her purse and said, "I want this one."

Changning was brought up by Fan Changyu, and was very honest most of the time. She had never seen jade, and didn't know how valuable it was, but she thought the white one was very beautiful.

But she also liked the straw katydid. Changning was a little upset, but then he thought Yu Baoer seemed to really like the straw katydid, so he took it off and gave it to him.

She said, "This is the katydid that Uncle Zhao made for me before he was arrested. Uncle Zhao went to the army, and no one will make katydids for me anymore. You should keep it well. If you don't want it anymore, bring it back and exchange it for your pendant."

Yu Baoer said, "I will keep it."

He was too small to climb onto the carriage by himself, and when Yu Qianqian carried him up, his wide sleeves slid down a bit, and the pair of wide jade bracelets on his hands also slipped down a little.

Fan Changyu noticed that there were scars on Yu Qianqian's wrists, which seemed to be left by being tied up.

She guessed that it was left by Yu Qianqian when she was in prison. Her brows furrowed, and she felt very sorry for Yu Qianqian.

When Yu Qianqian turned around to say goodbye to Fan Changyu, she saw Fan Changyu staring at her wrist. The smile on his face faltered, and he subconsciously covered the scar on his hand with his sleeve. Then he continued, "Then we'll leave."

Fan Changyu didn't notice and just smiled and said, "Have a safe trip."

Only after Yu Qianqian got on the carriage did the driver drive away.

When Fan Changyu was taking Changning home, he found that Changning kept his head down, kicking the pebbles on the road with the toes of his shoes from time to time, and seemed to be in a depressed mood.

When Fan Changyu squatted down, he realized that her eyes were red.

Fan Changyu asked, "Are you reluctant to leave Bao'er?"

Chang Ning nodded and shook her head, and said with some sadness: "Suan Suan is gone, my brother-in-law is gone, Uncle Zhao is gone too, Ning Niang misses them..."

Fan Changyu hugged his sister and patted her back gently, feeling a little regretful for a moment.

She said, "When the war is over, they will come back."

-

A few hundred miles away is Lucheng.

He Jingyuan had just arrived at the city gate with the newly recruited soldiers when they ran into a group of soldiers coming from Yanzhou. The leader saw him from a distance and bowed with a smile. His foxy eyes looked cunning and said, "Master He."

When He Jingyuan saw this man in white clothes, who was as handsome as a young actor on the stage, he couldn't help but frown.

The Lucheng garrison commander who went to greet He Jingyuan said, "This man is Gongsun, the military advisor under Marquis Wu'an. He arrived in Lucheng not long ago and said that Yanzhou's defenses were weak, so he wanted to borrow troops from Lucheng."

He Jingyuan's face suddenly darkened: "The rebel army of 50,000 is surrounding Lucheng. How can Lucheng spare troops to go to Yanzhou?"

The commander of Lucheng also broke out in a cold sweat and said, "Everyone says that Mr. Gongsun is a genius. I don't know what he is up to. I have already used the siege of Lucheng to evade the charge, but Mr. Gongsun said that he only wants 1,000 men from your newly recruited soldiers."

When He Jingyuan heard this, he looked puzzled.

At this moment, Gongsun Yin, wearing his Taoist white robe, walked up to He Jingyuan leisurely and said, "I came here to ask Lord He to lend me a hand."

Gongsun Yin worked for Xie Zheng and had no military position in the army, but he was full of schemes and no one dared to look down on him.

Although He Jingyuan was the governor of Jizhou and directly reported to the imperial court on political affairs, he was under the command of Xie Zheng on military affairs.

Therefore, when Gongsun Yin arrived, he dismounted and said, "Yanzhou is in trouble, and Jizhou should have provided assistance, but Mr. Gongsun must have seen Jizhou's current situation..."

Gongsun Yin smiled and said, "I came here to relieve the siege of Lucheng on the orders of the Marquis."

He Jingyuan was even more puzzled when he heard that he did not mention the matter of borrowing troops at all: "What do you mean?"

Gongsun Yin said: "The incident of Wei Xuan killing people while collecting grain in Taizhou has caused a lot of uproar. It is possible that the rebels did not help. It is just that there is a salt lake in Jizhou, so the rebels chose to besiege Jizhou. If Jizhou cannot be conquered for a long time, it is possible that the rebels will turn around and attack Taizhou. What the Marquis meant is that Yanzhou showed weakness and asked me to come to Jizhou for reinforcements. If the rebels see that Jizhou can still lend troops to Yanzhou, they will definitely doubt the real strength of Jizhou and dare not act rashly in the short term."

He Jingyuan asked: "Will Prince Changxin be easily fooled by this plan? What if he turns around and attacks Taizhou?"

Gongsun Yin's smile did not fade: "The Marquis has sent someone to Taizhou to borrow troops."

He Jingyuan didn't say anything for a while after hearing this, and just thought about this plan in his mind.

Taizhou and Jizhou were both involved in grain collection scandals, and the people were in disarray, but the rebels chose to attack Jizhou simply because they had their eyes on the salt lake there.

Marquis Wu'an sent people from Yanzhou to ask for help from Taizhou and Jizhou, which was undoubtedly telling the rebels that Yanzhou was the easiest to capture at the moment, and that Jizhou and Taizhou could both lend troops to Yanzhou, indicating that the military strength of these two states was far superior to that of Yanzhou.

In the past, Prince Changxin might have worried that it was a trick, but right now Jinzhou, north of Yanzhou, was fighting the Northern Jue people, so it was possible that Yanzhou had a weak defense.

Finally, He Jingyuan called his deputy general and said, "Mr. Gongsun needs as many troops as he wants. You can go and give them to him."

Gongsun Yin bowed deeply and said, "I would like to express my gratitude to you, Lord He."

He Jingyuan said: "If we can lift the siege of Lucheng and save Jizhou, we should congratulate Mr. Xie and Mr. Hou."

Gongsun Yin exchanged a few more polite words with him before leaving.

Half an hour later, Gongsun Yin, dressed in white clothes whiter than snow, brought the thousand new soldiers back to the camp where the Yanzhou soldiers he brought with him were stationed.

As soon as he entered the tent, he could no longer hide the gloom on his face. He looked at the man leaning on the couch with bruises on his eyes and face, and asked with a frown, "Hey, who in this world can beat you like this?"

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