Chapter 44 Visitors from the Border 1
The temperature had dropped to around zero degrees Celsius. When Jiang Yuan went out, he specially changed into the new clothes that Xie Wanniang had made for him.
The thick cotton coat embroidered with simple auspicious cloud patterns was not only soft and warm, but also made his handsome face even more attractive.
Hao Yu also wore his new cotton-padded coat, but unlike Jiang Yuan, he wore a gray robe over it. Moreover, this wasn't the first time he had worn the new cotton-padded coat that Xie Wanniang had made for him.
The two got up very early and quietly left the village before the villagers went out. Xie Wanniang, following Jiang Yuan's instructions, locked the courtyard gate and continued to do needlework at home with Xiao Yang.
Xiao Yang learns things very quickly. Whether it's cooking, making sauerkraut, pickling vegetables, drying vegetables and fish, or collecting herbs, processing them, sewing, and embroidering, the little girl learns them all quite well.
Of course, due to her age and the limited time she has been learning, she is still in the early stages of learning any skill.
Xie Wanniang sat in front of the embroidery frame, her embroidery movements flowing like clouds and water, both swift and beautiful.
Xiao Yang was much clumsy compared to her. She held a small embroidery hoop and carefully and slowly put in the needle and pulled the thread, trying her best not to mess up the pattern on the embroidery cloth like she had done before.
To ensure they had enough light for their embroidery even without lamps, the two of them kept the door to the main room open even in the cold weather. As a result, even though Jiang Yuan had lit a brazier for them in advance, they still needed to drink hot water from time to time and stand up to jump around and move around every now and then.
Xie Wanniang was used to this situation. When she was in the Xie family, she would keep warm by the fire pit, the earthen bed, hot water, and thick clothes in winter, while continuing to do what she was supposed to do.
As for Xiaoyang, the little girl used to have a much harder life than she does now. Before her parents sold her, she didn't even have a decent cotton-padded coat.
Her family almost never lit the brazier, the earthen bed was never very warm, and they never bothered to boil hot water. They could only drink some thin soup with rice and water when they ate.
Compared to before, Xiaoyang feels that she is now living a life of pure bliss.
Of course, she would have been even happier if her parents hadn't always tried to avoid talking to Xie Wanniang and hadn't said such inappropriate things every time.
The little one sighed silently in his heart, but his hands never stopped moving.
The two endured the cold and diligently embroidered all morning. As noon approached, Xie Wanniang rolled up her sleeves and led Xiao Yang to the kitchen.
This noon she plans to make red bean cakes, a multigrain dough made of sorghum flour, bean flour and wheat flour, wrapped with a sweet filling of cooked red bean paste, and pan-fried in oil until golden brown on both sides. Then she will use another large iron pot to make a big pot of salted fish and eggplant stew.
Salt was very expensive in ancient times, so Xie Wanniang's salted fish wasn't very salty, but its texture and taste were slightly more unique than fresh fish.
After the meal was prepared, Xie Wanniang only served herself and Xiaoyang a large bowl of salted fish and eggplant casserole each. She planned to save the rest for later to eat with Hao Yu and Jiang Yuan.
The same goes for the red bean cakes. She and Xiao Yang each ate only one red bean cake, and Xie Wan Niang kept the remaining twenty or so warm in the pot.
***
In the county town, at the post station, Hao Yu and Jiang Yuan once again met Chang Yao, the heir of the Marquis of Dingbei, who had come to transport grain while concealing his identity.
Chang Yao was a third-rank military officer stationed at Zijing Pass. Before the Yuan clan, who established the Great Wei, rebelled, the Chang family had already taken root in the northern border. They used the lives of hundreds of men from five generations to bring about sixty years of relative peace in the northern border.
Towards the end of the previous dynasty, corrupt officials ran rampant in the court, and the military supplies that the Chang family could obtain became less and less each year. When chaos broke out, the Chang family could not even get the meager military supplies they already had.
Helpless, the Chang family could only send people to find ways to procure all the necessary military supplies themselves.
Jiang Yuan and Hao Yu met Chang Yao by chance three years ago when he went to Tang County to procure military supplies.
At that time, Chang Yao and his group of companions had purchased enough military rations and cotton clothing, but armor and weapons were not so easy for them to obtain.
On his way to negotiate with the seller, Chang Yao was ambushed and killed by Tatars disguised as ordinary people.
Hao Yu, who had also served as a border guard in the north, heard the people surrounding and killing Chang Yao and his men shouting in Tatar. He immediately led Jiang Yuan to quietly approach the battle.
Upon discovering that the Tatars only had a slight numerical advantage, Hao Yu immediately decided to intervene.
Fearing something might happen to Jiang Yuan, he only allowed him to shoot and kill the Tatars with arrows from the outside.
Like the oriole that has its eye on the mantis, the two men launched a sneak attack with arrows while the Tatars were focused on dealing with Chang Yao and his men, killing the two Tatar archers who were idle on the periphery in the first instance.
Having dealt with the Tatars who could threaten them and Chang Yao's group with ranged weapons, the two then began to attack the Tatars surrounding Chang Yao's group.
Jiang Yuan was incredibly skilled with a bow and arrow, while Hao Yu, though not very adept with one hand and unable to use a bow and arrow against enemies, had honed his skills in concealed weapons over the past decade. The two worked together so well that the Tatars had to temporarily divert their forces to deal with them.
One was young, and the other had been injured; neither of them would be foolish enough to rush over and confront the tall and strong Tatar.
Taking advantage of their familiarity with the terrain, they led the charging Tatars in circles while seizing opportunities to kill them.
Hao Yu even took advantage of his familiarity with the terrain and his speed, and boldly went to loot the corpses, picking up the quivers of the two Tatar archers for Jiang Yuan to use.
The two worked together seamlessly, killing more than a dozen Tatars who had managed to sneak over here to obstruct Chang Yao's efforts to procure military supplies.
Chang Yao and his group, who originally thought they would at least suffer heavy losses with the enemy, cleverly cooperated with them from the inside and quickly broke through the encirclement.
After wiping out all the Tatars who had infiltrated, Chang Yao first thanked Jiang Yuan and Hao Yu, and then recruited them to join the border army.
Hao Yu refused without hesitation. He had old injuries and only wanted to live a peaceful life for the rest of his life. As for Jiang Yuan, firstly, he was still young, and secondly, Hao Yu was hoping that one day Jiang Yuan's parents could take him back and make up for the debt they owed him.
On the battlefield, swords and spears have no eyes, and Hao Yu was not at ease sending Jiang Yuan to Zijing Pass.
Chang Yao was disappointed, but he didn't force them.
Although it was inconvenient to reveal his true identity to them immediately, Chang Yao was determined to maintain contact with Jiang Yuan and Hao Yu as a friend and junior.
Because he valued talent, he seized every opportunity over the past three years to teach Jiang Yuan a great deal.
Of course, this is also related to the strong support they received from Hao Yu and Jiang Yuan.
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