Chapter 437 Recruiting
The open and secret struggles in the Kyoto court are separated from Taohua Village by thousands of mountains and rivers, and are two completely unrelated worlds.
For the villagers, those power struggles and disputes over food and fodder are too far away. They just guard their own few acres of land and a few houses, and live an ordinary life from sunrise to sunset.
In the early morning, people carry hoes to the fields; in the evening, they gather around the stove to cook. Children study in the school. Occasionally, there are sounds of laughter, shouting, and scolding. Everything is peaceful as if there has never been any turmoil.
But this tranquility was broken in the evening of that day.
Just as the setting sun was about to sink into the valley, a loud "boom" sound suddenly came from the mountain, shaking the ground slightly. Several tiles on the eaves fell off with a "clatter", and the corn cobs hanging under the eaves rolled all over the ground.
"What's wrong? What happened? Is the sky falling?"
The villagers were so frightened that they ran out of their houses, clutching unfinished cloth and unwashed vegetables in their hands.
Everyone ran to the open space at the entrance of the village in panic and looked in the direction where the sound came from.
I saw thick smoke billowing into the sky from the distant hillside. The black and gray smoke column was wrapped in dust, dyeing half of the sky gray. It was obvious that something unusual had happened.
"Oh my God, is the mountain god angry? Have we offended the mountain god in some way?" An old man, leaning on a cane, muttered tremblingly, his face full of fear.
"Could it be an earthquake? When the earthquake struck the neighboring county a few years ago, there was also a loud noise first!" someone echoed, their voice tinged with tears. "Why can't life be peaceful these days? We just survived plague and drought, and now chaos is coming?"
At this moment, Gu Jiayue was correcting students' homework in the school office. As soon as the tip of the pen touched the paper, the loud noise made her hand tremble, and the ink spread out in a large blob on the homework book.
She reflexively squatted down with her head in her hands and quickly hid under the table.
Having experienced earthquake drills in modern times, her first reaction was "earthquake."
But after waiting for a long time, apart from the initial loud noise, there was no other movement, not even the table shook.
The noisy discussions of the villagers could be heard outside. Gu Jiayue then slowly crawled out from under the table, dusted herself off, and walked to the corridor to look.
I saw that the mountainside not far from the school was shrouded in a gray smoke. The smoke was slowly spreading around, and there seemed to be a faint strange smell in the air.
She walked out of the school and asked the gathered teachers, "What just happened? Does anyone know?"
The teachers all shook their heads with confusion in their eyes.
They were all in class when they heard the loud noise and came out to check. When they came out, they saw thick smoke billowing out of the building. They couldn't figure out what was going on.
When Gu Jiayue saw everyone's expressions, she knew no one could answer, so she could only shout, "You guys go back and comfort the children first. I'll go to the front to check the situation. It shouldn't be a big deal."
After the students were led back to the classroom by the teacher, Gu Jiayue locked the office door and walked towards the direction of the smoke.
Along the way, we met many curious and worried villagers, and everyone was guessing what was going on.
Some people were holding incense in their hands, thinking that if it really was the mountain god, they would offer sacrifices to him, and maybe he would not be angry anymore?
When they saw Gu Jiayue, they felt like they had found their backbone.
In the end, they simply followed Gu Jiayue, and the group walked towards the mountainside in a mighty procession.
When they reached the place where the sound came from, everyone was stunned.
There were only two "dark" people standing in the open space.
Yes, people!
His hair, face, and clothes were all covered in black ash, leaving only his eyes and teeth white.
Suddenly, a deep pit about ten meters deep and two or three meters in diameter appeared in front of them. The soil on the wall of the pit was still steaming, and a pungent smell hit their faces.
"Oh my God! What's going on? How could a big hole appear in the ground?" A villager couldn't help but exclaimed, pointing at the deep hole with shock in his eyes.
"Who are you? What on earth are you doing on this mountain?"
Hearing the sound, the two "black shadows" slowly turned around.
Gu Jiayue squinted her eyes and looked for a long time before she could recognize them from their figures and voices.
It turned out to be Ye Yuntang and Xie Qingyun!
"You two..." Gu Jiayue had just started to speak when she smelled the strong smell of gunpowder in the air. Thinking back to what Ye Yuntang had said before, "You are researching a powerful weapon," she immediately had an answer. "Have you successfully developed your bomb?"
Ye Yuntang raised his hand to wipe the black dust off his face, but the more he wiped, the dirtier it became. Originally, only his cheeks were stained with dust, but now even his forehead and chin were black, making him look even more miserable than before.
Seeing that she couldn't clean it, she simply gave up. After all, there was no one present that she cared about.
She ran to Gu Jiayue with a smile, her tone filled with excitement and regret: "It exploded, so it should be considered a success! But the power is much smaller than I expected, not even one-tenth of what the book said!"
This is true.
Gu Jiayue knew that Ye Yuntang liked to study these "new gadgets", so she used her education points to buy several books on mechanical principles in the system mall.
He also specifically reminded that these books were not to be made public and only Ye Yuntang could read them.
In the past few months, apart from teaching chemistry and physics courses to the children in the school, Ye Yuntang has been spending the rest of his time studying these books.
Xie Qingyun, who was standing by, finally came back to his senses from his shock.
He had read a lot of books in the library before, and felt that he had some new inspiration, so he went to the mountains alone to look for inspiration.
He was meditating when he saw a girl wandering around stealthily in the mountains.
He was still muttering to himself as he swayed. "There shouldn't be any danger in doing experiments here, right?"
Before he could react, a round iron ball was thrown in front of him.
Then his hair stood on end, and his sixth sense told him to fly away quickly.
When he left, he kindly helped the girl.
The two of them had just retreated about ten meters when they heard a deafening explosion.
So even though he was at the scene, he was no less confused than the people who rushed over.
He shook his ears, which were ringing from the shock. He looked at the deep pit before him, then at Ye Yuntang, his voice trembling. "That's... that's only one-tenth of its power?"
"Of course!" Ye Yuntang puffed out his chest, his tone full of pride, "If we can get the material ratio right and improve the detonation method, this thing will be powerful enough to move an entire mountain!"
Xie Qingyun's heart was pounding when he heard this.
Wow, what kind of “magic weapon” is this?
If Da Gan had this thing, would the surrounding countries dare to disobey?
How dare the ever-changing Great Chu send troops to attack Yanshan?
He was about to ask a few more questions when he saw Ye Yuntang turn around and run down the mountain. "No, I have to go back and adjust the recipe. There must be something wrong!"
Xie Qingyun quickly picked up the hammer, iron sheets and other tools that Ye Yuntang had thrown on the ground, and quickly followed, his tone full of pleading: "Girl, girl! Can I follow you around? I can also help you pass tools and move materials!"
Ye Yuntang paused.
When the explosion happened just now, it was this man who suddenly appeared and pulled her up, otherwise she might have been killed by the bomb.
It’s not that Ye Yuntang didn’t know the power of this thing, he was just scared when he saw someone suddenly jump out from the place where he threw the bomb.
Thinking that I almost blew someone up, I felt very guilty, so I agreed.
And now she knew who this person was.
Xie Qingyun is the son of the national teacher. Compared with the Prince Yu Xianghan of Great Chu who stole her blueprints and ran away, he should be much more reliable. At least he will not steal her research results.
Even if someone really steals it, there is no need to worry. We can just ask Jiang Luli to help catch the person.
"Okay then." Ye Yuntang nodded and reminded him, "But you can't make trouble, and you can't tell others what you see or hear!"
"Of course! Of course!" Xie Qingyun nodded quickly, his face full of excitement.
The villagers who came to watch the fun gathered around the deep pit, pointing and talking.
"Wow, what amazing thing did Xiaoye come up with? He can actually create such a huge crater!"
"This is too powerful! Xiaoye must keep it safe and don't let the children in the village play with it. It would be terrible if it exploded and hit someone!"
"That's right! If one of these accidentally falls in the village, wouldn't all our houses and fields be blown away?"
Everyone walked down the mountain while talking and laughing.
Although I was startled by the loud noise just now, when I knew that it was Ye Yuntang doing research, the panic in my heart disappeared for the most part, leaving only curiosity.
But just as he reached the entrance of the village, he saw a group of people in green yamen uniforms standing there, holding documents in their hands with serious expressions.
The leader was Chen Ada from Annan County Government.
"Chen Yayi, why are you in our village? Is there something wrong?" Gu Jiayue walked forward, feeling a little uneasy.
The yamen runners don't look like they are here to bring good news.
Chen Ada pulled the corners of his mouth, forcing a forced smile, and bowed to Gu Jiayue. "Miss Gu, sorry to bother you."
He paused, cleared his throat, raised the document in his hand, and said loudly, "By order of His Majesty, the war south of Yanshan is intensifying, and conscription is urgently needed! Within today, every family with a male over the age of fifteen must select one able-bodied man. Before dawn tomorrow, they must gather at the county government office and march south of Yanshan to join the battle!"
He deliberately emphasized his tone and added, "Also, redemption with money is strictly prohibited during this conscription. No one is exempted!"
"What?!"
The crowd erupted in exclamations, and the relaxed atmosphere suddenly became solemn.
"Why are we suddenly conscripting soldiers? We've just had a few days of peace!"
"Chen Yayi, please be kind! I have only one child in my family, and he is only sixteen years old this year. If he goes to the front line, how will his father and I survive?" A woman knelt down with a plop, tears streaming down her face instantly, and she grabbed the corner of Chen Ada's clothes tightly.
"Yes, Mr. Chen, my wife just gave birth yesterday and is still in confinement. If I leave, what will happen to them?"
For a moment, the sounds of noise, crying, and pleading mixed together, and the village entrance was in chaos.
Gu Jiayue took a deep breath, stepped forward, and tried to keep her voice calm. "Chen Yayi, is the battle in Yanshan very difficult?"
Chen Ada gave a wry smile and spread his hands. "Miss Gu, I'm just a small yamen runner. How can I know the specific situation at the border? But when the county magistrate received the order yesterday, his face turned pale and he was busy all night without sleep. I guess the situation at the front is indeed not ideal."
Gu Jiayue nodded.
Yes, she couldn't get any useful information from a yamen runner.
"Miss Gu, I still have to go to other villages to convey the imperial edict, so don't delay me." After Chen Ada finished speaking, he shouted to the villagers, "Everyone hurry up and get ready. You must get to the county government office before dawn tomorrow. If you miss the time, you will be treated as disobeying the imperial edict!" After that, he hurried away with the yamen runners.
As soon as Chen Ada left, the news of the conscription spread like wildfire throughout Taohua Village in just half an hour.
The originally peaceful and quiet village was instantly shrouded in panic, with crying and quarreling coming from almost every household.
The atmosphere in the Gu family's courtyard was also particularly heavy.
Li prepared the meal, but no one had the heart to eat. The family sat in silence in the main room.
After a long while, Gu Yushan suddenly stood up, clenching his fists. "Dad, Uncle, let me go to the conscription this time! I'm young and strong. If I go to the front lines, I might be able to achieve great things and bring honor to our family."
"You are all old and not as strong as you used to be. You might collapse on the way before you even reach Yanshan."
"You son of a bitch, what nonsense are you talking about!" The uncle slammed the table in anger and pointed at Gu Yushan, "I'm not too old to walk! You're still strong even in old age, don't you understand? Don't think that just because you're a father now, I won't dare to hit you!"
Second Uncle also stood up, rolled his eyes at Gu Yushan, and said in a tone that left no room for doubt. "Stop arguing. It was my third brother who did the county corvée two years ago. This time, it should be my turn."
"Master!" Upon hearing this, Second Uncle's mother stood up anxiously and reached out to grab Second Uncle's arm, tears welling up in her eyes. "We're going to the war! Not to the market! What if...what if you don't come back, what will we do?"
The second uncle patted his wife's hand, trying to reassure her. "Don't worry, maybe we'll be lucky and the war will be over before we even reach Yanshan. Then I'll be able to return safely."
But everyone knows that this is just words of comfort.
If the war could really end so quickly, Your Majesty would not be in such a hurry to recruit soldiers.
Just when everyone was still arguing, an unexpected voice suddenly rang out: "Stop arguing, let me go this time!"
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