Chapter 48 Meeting the Parents

"Go in first."

"Hey." Xu Bing then noticed that there were two middle-aged men and women following Song Yuzhu, and guessed that they should be his parents.

After entering the house, Song Yuzhu introduced: "This is my father Song Bai and my mother Jiang. They will stay in Xuzhou with me in the future."

Everyone bowed to the two with a friendly look. Before, they would kneel down and kowtow at every turn, but Song Yuzhu insisted that they only need to bow when they meet in the future.

Jiang Rong grabbed her son's arm, nervously not knowing what to say. Song Bai was better than her and nodded to them, pretending to be calm.

"Song Quan, take my parents to your place first and move them out after you buy a house in a few days."

"Why."

"Don't worry about me. I'll come find you after I finish dealing with things here."

Song Bai and Jiang Rong nodded, and took Song Yumin to the small courtyard newly bought by Song Xin to rest for a while.

After everyone left, Song Yuzhu's face changed: "Liu Yanzi, Xu Bing, follow me upstairs and send someone to call Zhao Xiao back."

He had anticipated the imperial court sending troops, but he didn't expect it to come so soon.

Song Yuzhu asked: "When was the news delivered?"

"Two days ago." Xu Bing answered behind him.

"What did the letter say?"

Xu Bing took out an envelope from his bosom and handed it to him, saying, "Sir, please take a look at it yourself."

Song Yuzhu unfolded the letter and saw only a few words written in sloppy handwriting: The army of Baoding Prefecture has been mobilized, with more than 30,000 people, and will set off for Xuzhou soon.

This letter was written by Sun Biao himself. The headquarters of the escort agency is in Baoding, and he has many connections in Baoding over the years. He heard the news from a friend unexpectedly during the Chinese New Year, and immediately wrote a letter and sent someone to deliver it as fast as possible.

Song Yuzhu put down the letter and calculated the time. If the news was accurate, the Sheng army that was suppressing the rebellion should already be on the way...

"Why is the court so anxious to send troops?"

Xu Bing said: "I am also puzzled by this matter."

It was not a good time to send troops. The weather was cold and there was no sign of warming up. The snow on the road had not melted yet, which greatly affected the speed of marching. In addition to preparing more food and grass, they also had to bring charcoal for heating, otherwise they would freeze to death.

Song Yuzhu said: "It is understandable to send troops to attack Zhongzhou. After all, Zhongzhou is too close to Shangjing, and we cannot allow others to sleep soundly beside our bed. But it is really a bit unexpected to suddenly send troops to attack us."

Xu Bing casually guessed: "Could it be that something happened in Shangjing that Yang Yuanli is so anxious to attack us?"

Unexpectedly, he guessed it right. Yang Yuanli was in trouble.

His lung disease never recovered, and he became extremely thin. He used to be nearly eight feet tall, but now weighed less than 60 kilograms. He was like a lamp that was about to burn out, relying on ginseng soup to keep him alive. There was no telling when he would die.

Yang Yuanli himself knew that he was about to die, so he appointed his son Yang Rui as the crown prince and ordered the Grand Tutor Feng Zhi and the Imperial Preceptor Tian Qijiu to supervise the country. Then he ordered a large army to be sent to wipe out the rebels.

He was afraid that his death would lead to chaos in the country, and his young son would not be able to suppress the rebels in various places.

After a while, hurried footsteps were heard outside the door, and Zhao Xiao walked in, wrapped in snow.

As soon as he entered the room, he fixed his eyes on Song Yuzhu, looking her up from head to toe, and only felt relieved when he saw that everything was fine.

"You're back. Did you have a good trip?"

"Yeah." Song Yuzhu was also looking at him. Zhao Xiao's face didn't look very good, with dark circles under his eyes. It was obvious that he hadn't had a good rest in the past few days.

Xu Bing said: "General Zhao has been training from morning till night these days, so he should also pay attention to his health."

With the war imminent, how could Zhao Xiao dare to be careless? This is no joke; it concerns the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou.

Zhao Xiao took off his cloak and hung it beside him, then sat down next to Song Yuzhu, and their shoulders unconsciously leaned against each other.

Song Yuzhu: "I wonder who will be the commander of the Sheng Army this time?"

Xu Bing said: "Among the generals I know well, in addition to Shen Congwu who attacked Zhongzhou, there is also General Xu Dingkun of Guide, and General Ye Qing of Huaihua who is stationed at the North Gate. It is unlikely that Ye Qing will come, so this time they will most likely send Shen Congwu or Xu Dingkun."

Zhao Xiao asked seriously, "Who is this Shen Congwu?" The last time he heard that he was killing people in Zhongzhou, Zhao Xiao wanted to meet this person.

"Shen Congwu is the son of Shen Ming. You may not be familiar with Shen Ming. He died in his early thirties, which is more than ten years ago. But when he was alive, he was a brave general. He once led 300 troops and went straight to the home of the Jin people."

"It was precisely because of his reckless character that he lost his life. I wonder how much his son is like him."

Song Yuzhu asked Xu Dingkun again.

"General Xu, if I remember correctly, is already over 50 years old this year. Although he is old, he is experienced and has fought countless battles, big and small. So he is more difficult to deal with than Shen Congwu. I don't understand the rest of them."

Song Yuzhu felt grateful in her heart, fortunately there was a talent like Xu Bing around her, otherwise they would be blinded and who knows how much they would suffer if a fight really broke out.

"In that case, let's prepare for both situations. Xiao, when you train these days, bring the ambush troops with you."

Zhao Xiao was stunned: "Should we take them with us?"

"Yes, I'll have some uniforms made for them."

"You plan to merge them all into the Chengtian Army."

We have to merge. There will be many more battles in the future, and more and more soldiers will be killed or wounded. If we don't reinforce our forces, we will be wiped out sooner or later with only the few people we have.

Xu Bing said: "General Zhao, remember to break them up and put them into different teams. Never put them together." There have been cases in the past where captured soldiers turned against their own side in battle. Dispersing them can greatly avoid such incidents.

Zhao Xiao nodded: "I understand."

Song Yuzhu tapped the table lightly: "By the way, post a recruitment notice. It's time to expand the military camp."

They brought back so much silver from Dongzhou, and now it is just right to spend it on the most important things.

"On the other hand, sir, please send someone to contact the escort agency and ask them to help me collect supplies."

"I wonder what you want, sir?"

"Kerosene and food."

Kerosene was discovered when Dongzhou was almost murdered. It turns out that this dynasty already had something similar to petroleum! Of course, it is still a little different from processed petroleum. It is said that when digging wells in coastal areas, black water was dug out, and the greasy water floated on the water, like lacquer. It was collected to light lamps and was very bright.

They call this thing kerosene. It cannot be eaten, but can be used as lamp oil. It is durable and burns quickly, but the output is relatively small.

Song Yuzhu planned to stockpile more kerosene for use when the enemy attacked the city.

The second thing is to reinforce the city gates. The last time Yang Yuanzhen attacked the city, he left a deep shadow on everyone. If the enemy brings siege weapons such as battering rams again this time, we must be prepared in advance.

There was enough firewood for heating, and the rest was food.

Song Yuzhu planned to take out 500,000 taels of silver to stockpile grain, not only to feed the men and horses, but also to prepare for next year.

If the temperature continues to drop, crops will definitely be affected next year, and who knows how many people will starve to death by then.

The three of them discussed until it was time to light the lamps, and then they realized how late it was.

Xu Bing touched his rumbling stomach and said, "Oh, I forgot the time. Young Master has been traveling all the way and hasn't had time to rest. I won't disturb you anymore. We can discuss this matter tomorrow." After saying that, he stood up, bowed, and went downstairs.

Only Song Yuzhu and Zhao Xiao were left in the room.

There was no light in the dark room, Zhao Xiao fumbled and held Song Yuzhu's hand. His rough palm rubbed and kneaded the jade-like fingers.

Song Yuzhu's heart beat faster and his palms began to sweat.

He held Zhao Xiao's hand in return. His palm was as big as his, a full size bigger than Song Yuzhu's. His fingers were also much thicker than his, with chilblains and calluses on the joints.

Their fingers were intertwined and both of them were breathing irregularly.

"Knock knock, sir, is General Zhao in there?" Xiangyu's voice suddenly came from outside the door.

Song Yuzhu quickly pulled her hand away, stood up with a red face and said, "Xiangyu, come in."

"Why don't you turn on the lights? The food is ready downstairs, let's eat it while it's hot."

"Hey." Song Yuzhu took a deep breath and suppressed the throbbing in her heart. She looked back at Zhao Xiao and saw him smoothing his clothes with a look of annoyance on his face. She couldn't help laughing.

"Yuzhu..."

"Let's go and eat."

*

Downstairs, Sun Mao prepared a table full of his signature dishes, and Xiang Yu had already sent a portion to Song Quan in advance.

Xiangyu said, "I don't know if Aunt Song is used to eating this." The appetite of pregnant women is always different from that of ordinary people.

Song Yuzhu thanked him and said, "You are so thoughtful." She was so busy with her work that she almost forgot about her parents.

Zhao Xiao was surprised and asked, "Are your parents here?"

"Yeah, by the way, you weren't here just now, so you didn't see them. Do you want to go with me to meet them?"

"This...it's so late, won't it disturb them?"

Song Yuzhu stood up and said, "It's not too late. They should not have rested yet. Let's go and take a look."

"Should I prepare some gifts? It's not good to go empty-handed."

Song Yuzhu chuckled: "It's just a meeting. They are quite curious and want to see what General Zhao looks like."

Zhao scratched his head: "Okay then."

After dinner, the two walked on the snow to Song Quan’s courtyard.

Lights were lit in the yard. Song Quan gave up the main room to Song Bai and his wife, and he moved into the side room with Xiaomei and the child.

It was not the first time that Song Bai saw Zhao Xiao, but he still almost did not recognize that this was the person he had treated that day.

The man in front of him was nine feet tall, with a strong physique. He was wearing a dark cloak. His skin was rough from long-term exposure to wind and sun, and he had a light stubble on his cheeks and chin. He looked more mature and stable than when he first saw him.

"Hello, uncle and aunt." Zhao Xiao bowed to the two of them stiffly.

Song Bai said awkwardly: "You, you too, please sit down."

Song Yuzhu introduced: "These are my parents, and this is Zhao Xiao."

Jiang looked at him quietly and thought that the boy was quite energetic and handsome, so she couldn't help but chat with him about family matters.

"Where are you from? Are your parents okay?"

Zhao Xiao immediately stood up and said, "I am from Jinzhou, I am 20 years old, my parents are unknown, and I have no brothers or sisters..."

Song Yuzhu nudged him with her elbow and said with a smile, "Well, there's no need to introduce it in such detail."

Zhao Xiao's ears turned red. This was his first time meeting an elder and he really didn't know how to start the conversation.

Jiang Rong's impression of him, however, improved a lot.

After a brief chat, it was getting late, so Song Yuzhu asked his parents to go to bed early and asked Zhao Xiao to take him back to Louwailou.

Walking on the road, Song Yuzhu couldn't help laughing out loud: "Haha...hahahaha..."

"Yuzhu... stop making fun of me."

Song Yuzhu couldn't stop laughing. This silly boy was so funny.

Zhao Xiao was so angry that he walked over to him and pulled him into his arms.

Song Yuzhu was stunned. Zhao Xiao was a head taller than her and almost held her in his arms.

Song Yuzhu tried to break free, but he grabbed her shoulders and she couldn't move. She watched him slowly lower his head, her heart beating like a drum.

Song Yuzhu closed her eyes and placed a warm kiss on his forehead...

"Let you make fun of me!" After saying this, Zhao Xiao held his head high and walked in front with big strides, as if he had gotten a great advantage.

Song Yuzhu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The person who dared to make dirty jokes with her in the military camp back then, now doesn't even dare to kiss her.

(End of this chapter)