Chapter 68
On the day Fan Changyu left, Zheng Wenchang quickly wrote another letter to He Jingyuan.
Earlier, when He Jingyuan learned that Changning had been arrested, he wrote back to him, asking him to find a way to stabilize Fan Changyu.
Zheng Wenchang still didn't know who had kidnapped the child. In order to give Fan Changyu an explanation first, he lied and said that it might have been done by a trafficker who kidnapped girls and children in Jizhou City.
I thought Fan Changyu could just wait patiently for the news that the government had destroyed the human traffickers' den, but unexpectedly, the girl took a pig-killing knife and followed the soldiers into the human traffickers' den to look for the person herself.
The time originally planned to completely wipe out several dens was shortened to just half a month, which made Zheng Wenchang feel very awkward.
The government has always offered rewards to heroes who helped capture wanted criminals. Because Fan Changyu received such a large reward and had a brilliant record of defeating Qingfeng Village and protecting more than a dozen neighbors, he has become a little famous in the underworld and is known as the Pig Killer Xishi.
There is a saying among the remaining insignificant bandits in the city of Jizhou: If you encounter a pretty girl holding a pig-killing knife while robbing, don't have any inappropriate thoughts, just let her pass, otherwise... your entire nest will be destroyed.
Some girls among the people who were going to travel far away would invariably buy a pig-killing knife and carry it with them as a talisman. Not to mention that it was really effective, so much so that the pig-killing knives in blacksmith shops and knife shops were in short supply for a while.
When He Jingyuan received the letter, he was the one who felt the most awkward.
Before Xie Zheng left with 20,000 new soldiers, he specifically asked him to look after Fan Changyu who was far away in Lizhou Prefecture. He Jingyuan had not expected the situation to develop into this state.
He originally hoped that the two girls from the Fan family would live an ordinary life and not get involved in the affairs behind the Fan couple, but now it seems that this is no longer possible.
The personal guards were standing outside the tent and only heard a deep sigh from him.
-
The sun was shining brightly, and the grass and trees on both sides of the official road had already sprouted.
Fan Changyu was riding on horseback, biting on dry food. He had no time to appreciate the spring scenery along the way. He just felt strange that he didn't encounter any refugees along the way. Could it be that all those who should have escaped had run away in the past few months?
The dry food was a bit choking. When Fan Changyu took out the water bottle to drink water, he found that there was not much water left in the bottle.
She glanced at the stream that ran parallel to the official road and dismounted to fetch water. However, the water was very shallow. She did not take the kettle to the rocky part of the stream to fetch water, but reached directly into the stream to fetch water. She could only fill half a kettle.
Fan Changyu drank a few sips of the clear water, filled her water bottle and was about to continue on her way, but a ragged man stumbled over from the fork in the road ahead. He saw her from a distance and shouted, "Girl, save me!"
Fan Changyu thought he had encountered a bandit, so she hung the water bottle on the horse's back and immediately took out her boning knife. When the man was about to reach her, she calmly pointed the blade at him and successfully made the man stop three steps away from her.
When she was out, Fan Changyu did not dare to be careless. She had followed government officials to destroy human traffickers' dens before. Many young girls were abducted because they were kind-hearted and met children or elderly people. They were deceived into secluded places and then put into sacks and dragged away by human traffickers.
She looked at the man and asked, "Did you encounter any bandits?"
The man shook his head. His face, which looked like it had been tanned from years of hard work, was covered in sweat. He held his thighs with both hands and panted, "The court officials and soldiers are so cruel that they want to arrest innocent people like me to repair the dam..."
The chaotic sound of horse hooves approached, and the man was obviously panicked and afraid. He begged Fan Changyu, "I will hide in the woods for a while. Miss, please don't tell me where I am. I have old people to take care of and young children to take care of. If I am captured, I will most likely die under the whips of those soldiers. What will happen to my old people and children at home?"
He was so anxious that he almost kowtowed to Fan Changyu twice. After saying this, he dived into the bushes on the official road.
Fan Changyu digested the information the man had said, thinking that it was no wonder that the stream was still so shallow in spring. It turned out that a dam had been built upstream to hold back the water. He hadn't seen any refugees along the way. Could they have been forced to work on the dam construction?
She was in no hurry to leave. She watched the horse lower its head to eat the tender grass that had just grown on the side of the road, and she even reached out to scratch the horse's neck.
When the chaotic sound of horse hooves arrived, there were actually more than a dozen riders, all of them were soldiers in armor. Because this was a fork in the road, the leader of the soldiers pulled the reins and asked Fan Changyu: "Did you see a man passing by?"
I didn't see many people along the official road. It would be a bit hypocritical to say that I hadn't seen anyone.
Fan Changyu nodded and said, "I have seen it before."
She showed no fear when she saw the soldiers. She had several swords on her horse's back, and she was dressed in a professional riding outfit. The soldiers thought she was a wandering woman, so they didn't doubt her and only asked, "Which road did you take?"
Fan Changyu pointed to the fork in the road and said, "This one."
The leader of the officers and soldiers glanced at Fan Changyu, but did not directly order all the troops to chase in the road that Fan Changyu pointed to. Instead, he pointed out two people to continue chasing in the road that Fan Changyu came from, and he led most of the troops to the side road.
Fan Changyu watched the officers and soldiers riding away on their horses with an expressionless face, but what he was thinking in his heart was why was it different from what was written in the storybook?
When the officers and soldiers had completely run away and disappeared from sight, Fan Changyu said to the bush where the man was hiding, "Come out, the officers and soldiers are gone."
The man came out like a wolf and said to Fan Changyu with gratitude: "I thank you on behalf of my whole family."
Fan Changyu said, "It's just a small favor, I don't need to thank you. By the way, I pointed out that road to the soldiers, but two people on horseback still chased me along this road behind me. You see, why don't you go back to the bushes and hide for a while? If the soldiers can't find you, they will probably turn back to look for you. Wait until the soldiers go back to look for you, then run this way."
The man thanked her again and again, but he had no intention of leaving. He looked at the big bag hanging on Fan Changyu's horse's back with embarrassment, licked his dry lips and said, "Miss, do you have anything to eat? I have been hiding from the soldiers and have not eaten for several days."
Fan Changyu had a lot of dry food in her bag. She glanced at the man and said, "I'll get it for you."
To untie the knot on the bundle, two hands were needed. Fan Changyu put the bone-cutting knife into the leather bag hanging on the horse's back and reached out to untie the bundle.
Her dislocated hand has almost healed, but she still has difficulty lifting heavy objects occasionally. In order to help her hand recover faster, she has hardly used it for any heavy work in recent days.
When Fan Changyu turned around to get food, the man's originally honest expression suddenly turned ferocious, and the dagger hidden in his sleeve stabbed straight into her back.
But there was a "ding" sound, and the tip of the knife seemed to have poked a piece of iron plate and could not move forward at all. The man was obviously stunned.
Fan Changyu paused as he was about to untie the bag, and turned his head to look at the man coldly: "You're lying to me?"
The man's expression turned fierce, he pulled out the dagger and slashed at Fan Changyu's neck again. Fan Changyu kicked him hard in the abdomen, sending him flying more than ten feet away.
Maybe it was because his internal organs were ruptured by the force, but the man could no longer hold the dagger. He covered his stomach with his hands and twisted on the ground in pain.
Before Fan Changyu decided to travel alone, he took a lot of measures, such as asking a blacksmith to make two extremely strong iron plates, one for him in front and one for his back, for fear of any accidents on the road.
She walked over with her pig-killing knife, intending to tie up the man and leave him here, waiting for the soldiers to come back and take him away, and then she would slip away before that.
Otherwise, she might have let a wanted criminal go, and deceived the officers and soldiers who were trying to capture him, and she might have been charged with conspiracy.
Unexpectedly, the sound of horse hooves soon came towards this side again. When the leader of the officers and soldiers saw Fan Changyu and the man, his face looked extremely ugly. The cavalrymen under him also pointed their bows and crossbows at Fan Changyu.
Fan Changyu said quickly, "Military Master, I was deceived by this man before. He said that he was a civilian who was arrested to build a dike, and he had an old mother, a wife and children at home. He asked me to hide his whereabouts for him. He just tried to kill me, but I subdued him."
The leader of the soldiers looked at her coldly and ordered his soldiers: "Tie her up and take her away with you."
Fan Changyu said anxiously, "Master, I am really innocent! I was wrong to deceive you before, but I also subdued the villain. Can you make up for my mistake and forgive my crime?"
The leader of the soldiers snorted coldly: "This is a scout from the Chongzhou Army. Who knows if you are a spy? Seeing that you can't bring this scout back, you conspired to perform this drama."
Fan Changyu had not expected that he would get into such a big trouble, and hurriedly said, "Master Jun, I have my household registration documents with me. I am from Jizhou, and I am not a spy!"
As she spoke, she took out her household registration document, but because the soldiers would not let her get close, she could only throw it to the leader of the soldiers to see.
After seeing this, the chief of the army asked, "Since you are from Jizhou, why are you running to the northwest border during the war?"
This official road can lead to Chongzhou or Yanzhou. Fan Changyu was afraid of being considered an accomplice, so he dared not say that he was going to Chongzhou, and said, "I'm going to Yanzhou to look for my relatives."
The war caused a lot of refugees, and they rarely went to other provinces without the help of government officials.
The chief soldier's expression did not ease: "How do I know that you didn't kill someone to get this household registration document?"
He turned his horse around and ordered in a gruff voice, "Take it away!"
Fan Changyu: “…”
Don't be so unlucky!
Being pointed at by a row of bows and crossbows, she had no choice but to resign herself to her fate and put down her knife. They tied her hands and took her back to the barracks.
Fan Changyu only knew that there were troops stationed in Lucheng, but he didn't know that there were tens of thousands of troops stationed halfway out of Jizhou, and a large-scale dam was being built.
After Fan Changyu was taken back to the military camp, she was temporarily detained in a cell. Her horse, baggage, and pig-killing knife were all taken away. Even the two iron plates she had hidden on her body were taken away by the old woman when she was searched.
The food that the guards gave her every day was nothing but water and the dry food in her bag. She was forced to be locked up and had to pay for her own meals, which made Fan Changyu even more depressed.
Two days later, she was taken out of the cell. It was confirmed that she was not a spy, but she was not let go. She stood with other ragged civilians and was given a hoe and a basket. The officers and soldiers asked them to dig earth and rocks, two people in a group. If they did not dig ten baskets in the morning, they would have no food at noon.
It was only then that Fan Changyu realized that these people were refugees passing through here and were forced to stay here. It seemed that the officers and soldiers were afraid that they would tell others about the river embankment construction, but they had to keep them locked up and provide them with food, so the officers and soldiers let them dig earth and rocks.
In order to have enough food to eat, most refugees are still willing to do these physical jobs.
Fan Changyu was detained simply because the officers and soldiers were afraid that she would pass through Chongzhou on her way to Yanzhou and leak some information.
She didn't know why building a dam had to be so secretive, and she was still worried about Changning's safety. She thought that now that she was out, she could go to the mountain to dig up soil and rocks to get a feel for the surrounding terrain, so that she could formulate an escape plan.
When she first arrived, the others had already formed a team. Most of them were men, and no one would show mercy to women when it came to whether they could eat or not. The woman with strong arms and legs saw that Fan Changyu was tall but thin, and was afraid that she was incapable of working, so she was unwilling to form a team with her.
Fan Changyu thought that it should not be difficult for her to dig ten baskets of earth and rocks in the morning. However, the officers and soldiers saw that she and a thin old man had no one to team up with, so they directly let her team up with the old man. They probably thought that one of them was a weak woman and the other was an old man, and their physical strength was not as good as others, so they only asked them to dig five baskets in the morning.
Fan Changyu carried a basket and a hoe and followed the main force to the mountain to collect earth and rocks. The old man was panting even with his own hoe. His mouth was never idle along the way, and he kept scolding the officers and soldiers. However, his scolding was extremely elegant, full of nonsense. Not to mention the common people who went to collect earth and rocks with him, even the officers and soldiers could not understand what he was saying.
Fan Changyu also had the Four Books with annotations by Yan Zheng in his bag, and he would read a few chapters when he had free time. He could understand some of what he heard, but he was completely confused by the quotations from classics.
Seeing that the old man was almost out of breath, she thought of Zhao the carpenter who was also a soldier of the same age. She felt sorry for him and used her pick as a knife to cut a thick branch from the tree, shoveled off the branches and the tip, and gave it to the old man as a walking stick. She reached out to put the old man's pick into the basket and said, "Let me help you get it."
The old man was sweating profusely. Seeing that Fan Changyu was a girl, he refused to give her anything and said stubbornly, "I can take it myself."
A woman nearby saw this and said, "Girl, don't bother with this old man. He has a weird temper!"
Fan Changyu could see that the old man had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, so he smiled and didn't take it to heart.
When they arrived at the place to dig soil and rocks, Fan Changyu was very strong and filled five baskets in almost no effort. The officers and soldiers who were counting couldn't help but look at her differently.
They were not needed to move the earth and rocks, as mules or two soldiers could carry them on shoulder poles.
After finishing the morning's work, the others were still digging. Fan Changyu couldn't openly take a break, so he pretended to dig while chatting with the old man: "Old man, you are a scholar, why were you brought here?"
The old man said angrily: "I heard that Yanzhou borrowed 20,000 soldiers from Jizhou, so I guessed that the upper reaches of Wuhe River must be building a dam. I wanted to come and see how the dam was built, but those officers and soldiers took me as a spy. What can I do now?"
Fan Changyu said: "Old man, you can join in any excitement, but you'd better not join in the excitement of fighting and dam repairs in the future."
The old man was mistakenly arrested for being a witness to the fun, and was so angry that he ignored Fan Changyu until lunch.
Fan Changyu leisurely dug eight baskets of earth and rocks in the morning. When she went to get her meal, she was commended by the officers and soldiers and received an extra steamed bun. She wanted to give it to the old man, but the old man snorted when he looked at the steamed bun, obviously not liking it. So Fan Changyu unceremoniously put it away herself.
She was stronger than the others and naturally ate more. She knew that she could get more food if she dug more soil and rocks, so she dug twelve baskets in the afternoon and successfully got two more steamed buns.
The old man continued to curse people in an elegant manner, either at the officers and soldiers here or at some bad boys or something.
Holding the bowl of porridge and a steamed bun in his mouth, Fan Changyu asked curiously, "Is that your son?"
The old man glanced at her and said, "He's half a son."
Fan Changyu exclaimed, "So it's your son-in-law."
The old man started to scowl again: "It's my student! You ignorant little girl!"
Perhaps Fan Changyu was used to Yan Zheng's sharp tongue, so she didn't get angry with this hard-mouthed but soft-hearted old man. Instead, she showed him some respect for his knowledge. She said shamelessly, "You were a teacher in the past? I have learned the Analects by myself. Can I ask you some questions?"
When the old man heard that she was self-taught, he looked at her in surprise: "Self-taught?"
Fan Changyu looked a little sad, and smiled and said, "My former husband was also a scholar. He passed away before he could finish teaching me the Four Books, so he made annotations for me to read."
The old man probably felt that being a widow at such an old age was quite pitiful, so he stopped being arrogant and said, "My condolences."
Fan Changyu was stunned for a moment, then he quickly responded, "He's not dead, he was captured by the conscription army."
The old man was so angry that his beard curled up: "You're making him dead!"
Fan Changyu: “…”
-
Yanzhou.
The Yanshan Mountains in the distance rose up like a dragon's spine in the night, and the unmelted ice and snow on the top of the mountain were vaguely visible in a grayish white.
Thousands of military tents were located at the foot of the mountain. Braziers supported by tripods were scattered among the tents. The crackling firewood illuminated the camp.
In the central military tent, Xie Zheng looked at the military deployment of Yanzhou and Chongzhou on the map, pointed at a place and said to his generals: "Chongzhou has sent 50,000 troops to besiege Lucheng, and the remaining 50,000 troops should not be underestimated. I will go to lure the enemy, and you will lead your men to set up an ambush at the front line gorge..."
He suddenly covered his face with his hands and sneezed.
The generals who were sitting respectfully at the long table were all stunned.
Although the ice and snow on Yanshan Mountain have melted, it is still very cold at night.
Xie Zheng had already changed into a thin spring shirt. He had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and a face as beautiful as jade. He had the best-looking figure of a military commander in the eyes of the noble ladies in Kyoto.
He frowned and continued his deployment. When he paused for a moment, his personal guard came in to add tea and considerately brought him a thick coat.
Xie Zheng looked at the guard holding the clothes with a cold face. The guard said in a low voice, "It's cold and dewy at night. Be careful not to catch a cold, Lord Hou."
Xie Zheng: "...get out."
The author has something to say:
Xie Moumou (angrily): I can go swimming shirtless on a snowy day. Will I feel cold because my clothes are too thin?
--------
The goose girl is going to learn from her life mentor!!
I'm very sorry for being late. I'll give 100 red envelopes to the kids~
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
