Xia Youtian said:
"Second brother, third brother, fifth brother, I know that even though you don't say it, you all think in your hearts that I'm scared by what happened to my eldest brother and that's why I'm planning to move out."
Xia Yougui's face suddenly turned a bit awkward. Xia Youxi waved his hands repeatedly in denial: "No, no, that's not true!" Xia Youliang just looked at Xia Youtian: "Fourth brother, I know you are not a rat's courage."
Xia Youtian smiled and said:
"Even if you think I'm scared to death, I still have to say this.
After all, we are brothers. Although we have separated, the feelings between brothers still exist. If I don't tell you about what I can see, I will be very uneasy.
If I am wrong, please correct me, brothers."
Xia Youtian raised his hand and pointed to the north: "Those Hu people over there have never been at peace since ancient times. Since the founding of our Great Chu Dynasty, we have been at war with them every year. The only difference is whether the battle is large or small."
Seeing that the brothers all nodded, Xia Youtian drank a sip of water to moisten his throat and continued:
"Our Beiguan Town defenses have never been breached before. Our Beiguan Village is located in a remote corner, so it's always been relatively peaceful. But this time, the barbarians invaded Beiguan Town and massacred many of the city's families. The piles of human heads in front of the Qianhu Suo and the county government were taller than the Panyun Tower...
"Our Beiguan Village will no longer have peace. I'm afraid our people will be incorporated into the military."
The three brothers were all shocked when they heard this:
"Are you serious? Fourth Brother, what news have you received?"
"Youtian, this is a serious matter! Where did you hear that? Did the official who stayed at your house to recuperate secretly tell you the news?"
Xia Youtian said:
"How could I have any information? I figured this out over and over again.
There are not many people in our Beiguan Town to begin with, and this time so many families have suffered misfortune. I'm afraid both the original military households and civilian households have suffered a lot of losses.
Since they can't fill the gap, they naturally have to recruit new people.
The best-case scenario is conscription and forced labor. In a more serious scenario, they might even draft all the people from the villages around us into military households."
Xia Yougui couldn't help but raise his voice:
"Old Four, if you want to leave now, I'm afraid you can't! If you run away directly, won't you become a refugee?"
Xia Youtian said:
"Whether we can leave or not is another matter. But we have to make preparations. I plan to set off after the Lunar New Year and the end of the first month of the lunar year."
Xia Yougui couldn't help but ask, "What about your land? Are you just going to abandon it like that?"
Xia Youtian said, "Since we're leaving, we have to sell this land. Otherwise, where will we get the money?"
Xia Yougui stopped talking.
Although he was somewhat afraid of being incorporated into the military household, he did not believe Xia Youtian's inference.
In addition, Xia Youtian denied having obtained any inside information, so Xia Yougui felt that this matter was most likely the result of Xia Youtian being frightened and making random guesses.
He originally thought that Xia Youtian would give him the land to farm.
But no one expected Xia Youtian to be so determined that he even planned to sell the land for travel money!
Xia Yougui knew that Xia Youtian's family workshop was making money, but he didn't know how much exactly.
He also knew that the fourth family's recently completed workshop had been destroyed by the barbarian soldiers, and many pickle jars had been smashed. It was said that if they couldn't deliver the goods, they would have to pay double the amount of silver to the merchants.
So he took Xia Youtian's words of selling land for travel money seriously, and felt a little unhappy.
Seeing Xia Yougui remained silent, Xia Youtian sighed inwardly and turned his gaze to Xia Youxi and Xia Youliang: "Third brother, fifth brother, what are your plans?"
Xia Youxi said:
"Of course I want to move. But this matter involves too many things, and I need to discuss it with your third sister-in-law.
If I am really enlisted as a military household, I will go to war, and your sister-in-law and your two nieces will be bullied in the village. Although you have your brothers to take care of us, we can't rely on you for everything!"
Xia Youliang said, "I have to discuss this with your fifth sister-in-law as well. The key is whether she wants to move. I suspect she'll be reluctant to leave my father-in-law and mother-in-law."
Xia Youtian said, "I can't bear to leave my parents either! So if we want to move, it's best to take them with us."
Not only the men were discussing this, but the women were also discussing moving.
However, the first person to bring up this topic was not Jiang, but Erlang's future daughter-in-law Zhou Yunniang.
Zhou Yunniang said to Erlang, "We've had enough disasters over there, and I never thought you wouldn't have peace here either."
Erlang looked at Zhou Yunniang's expression and said with a smile, "Then let's move to a peaceful place."
Zhou Yunniang said sadly, "How can it be that easy..."
Xia Yujiao heard their words from the side, and seemed to be lost in thought. Wu and Cheng also heard them, and they looked at each other, and suddenly something moved their hearts.
Wu then took over the conversation: "Erlang, are you willing to abandon your family, your career, and your hometown?"
Jilang laughed and said:
"Aunt San, look at my eldest aunt and my eldest brother, don't you know?
Whether or not to abandon our family and our business is not something we can decide on our own. Yunniang's idea does make some sense.
If I could move to the border, find a peaceful place to live, even if there would still be other troubles, at least I could have a bit of peace of mind."
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